150 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



autumn, and then they quit the moors for the 

 turnip-fields and wet pastures. As the winter 

 draws on, however, they become less social, and 

 during that season are often met with alone. 

 With spring a transient gregarious habit will be 

 observed just before the breeding season com- 

 mences. Meadow Pipits live largely on insects, 

 worms, and snails in summer, but in autumn and 

 winter small seeds and even grain are eaten in 

 addition to this usual fare. 



Wherever the Meadow Pipit is common on 

 widely the moorlands, the CUCKOO (Cuculus canorus) is 

 generally the same. In the bright genial spring- 

 time the gladsome notes of the Cuckoo are heard 

 everywhere on the borders of the moors, and 

 even, but less frequently, far on their wide wastes. 

 Caterpillars are abundant among the heather 

 and coarse vegetation of the moors, and foster 

 parents for its offspring abound in the Meadow 

 Pipits. Probably ninety per cent, of the Cuckoos 

 hatched on the moorlands are incubated by 

 Meadow Pipits ; and it is a common sight to see 

 this little bird feeding a clamouring young Cuckoo 

 as it sits on a rock or wall, or even on a gate- 

 post. The Cuckoo usually arrives on the moors 

 about the third week in April, a little later than 

 his first appearance further south. He soon com- 

 mences to sing, and continues in splendid voice 

 until the middle of June ; then his song becomes 

 more laboured and more fitful, and by the early 

 days of July he has ceased to utter it at all. The 

 Cuckoo is easily observed on the moors ; there is 

 little cover here in which he can hide, and time 

 after time we see the long-tailed bird flying about 

 amongst the rocks and heath, and are startled by 



