XLIX. CUCKOO. 



(Guculus canorus.) 



THE next plate is drawn from a bird which was caught alive and 

 kept for a few days. There are usually a good many Cuckoos 

 in our neighbourhood, and they are to be seen constantly during 

 the season on the open ground, as well as among the trees and 

 brushwood. The attitude represented is not uncommon when 

 the bird settles on the ground in search of insects. 



The adult Cuckoo is slate grey above, the breast white, barred 

 with black, eyes pale. In its first plumage the young Cuckoo 

 is red-brown, with dark bars on the upper parts, and white barred 

 with black beneath, and eyes dark hazel. It greatly resembles 

 a Kestrel Hawk ; it is called the Ked Cuckoo, and has probably 

 been at some time mistaken for a different species, as young 

 Sea Gulls have been, in consequence of the great difference of 

 plumage between young and old. 



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