9 o THE BIRDS OF THE WOODS 



in the middle of May, the second in July, the young leaving the nest unusually 

 early. On the Continent the turtle-dove's principal food consists of pine and other 

 seeds, and nearly every sort of grain. On the ground it walks very quickly, 

 bobbing and turning its head in all directions, and it is also fast on the wing. The 

 monotonous tur-tur, from which this dove takes its name, is uttered in various 

 modulations and frequent repetitions from the tree-tops, the bird inflating its 

 throat and lowering its head and neck somewhat as it coos. 



The turtle-dove is a true migrant, and does not arrive in northern latitudes 

 before the middle of April. In north Germany it is rare, but in the province of 

 East Prussia, where it does not arrive before the beginning of May, it is much 

 more frequent. Its range extends over southern and central Europe as well as 

 central Asia up to the 58th parallel of north latitude. In Persia it is common, in 

 northern Africa it is met with as far north as Abyssinia, and in the Canaries 

 it is found in flocks. The bird is nearly a foot in length, and may be easily 

 recognised by its tail-feathers, which, with the exception of the middle pair, 

 end in a white point. 



A bird that reminds us somewhat of the doves, and still more 

 Cuckoo. ii-i e 



so or the sparrow-hawk, is the cuckoo. As a family, cuckoos are 



lively, restless birds, which wander in search of food daily through considerable 

 tracts of country, and seldom remain in one spot for more than a short period. 

 They prefer, with few exceptions, animal food ; and their call, only uttered during 

 the pairing-time, but then with almost wearisome frequency, consists of short, far- 

 carrying sounds. These birds either make open nests in bushes and on branches 

 of trees, or smuggle their eggs into the nests of other species to whom they entrust 

 the bringing up of their young. Those that construct their own nests lay eggs 

 of a uniform colour, either pure white or bluish, sometimes covered with a thin 

 incrustation of lime, but the others lay eggs of a great variety of colours. While 

 Europe and northern Asia have but one species of cuckoo, and North America 

 only two, which, although of a different genus, resemble their European and Asiatic 

 relatives in travelling south in winter, all the other cuckoos (some four hundred in 

 number) are resident in the tropics. The ordinary cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), 

 during the pairing-time, is to be found almost all over Europe, where there are 

 trees and underwood, and where insects abound. Even districts where there is a 

 scarcity of insects, for instance the isle of Sylt in the North Sea, are visited by 

 this bird, which also inhabits by far the greater part of the northern half of the 

 Old World, and breeds anywhere between the sea-level and the snow-line from the 

 northern shores of the Mediterranean to Siberia and Japan. It traverses the 

 north of Africa twice in its yearly migration, and in Asia its winter refuge is 

 southern India, the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines, and even northern 

 Australia. 



Perhaps the most remarkable fact about the cuckoo is the wonderful variety 

 in the colouring and marking of its eggs. There are cuckoos' eggs of one uniform 

 colour ; there are others with a few fine reddish clay-coloured spots ; and again 

 others with white, yellowish, green, blue, brown, reddish, red, grey, violet-grey, or 

 yet other ground-colours, marked with black, violet, rusty brown, greyish brown, 



