CUCULID^. 269 



The food of the Cuckoo consists almost entirely of 

 insects, all sorts of which, as well as caterpillars, are 

 eaten by it ; amongst caterpillars, however, it appears 

 to prefer the rough hairy ones. Young Cuckoos 

 adapt themselves with considerable ease to the 

 natural food of the bird in whose nest they find 

 themselves, their digestion being equal to any 

 variety: when hatched, therefore, by insect-eating 

 birds the young Cuckoo is fed on flies, beetles, cater- 

 pillars, grasshoppers and small snails, but when fed 

 by any of the Finches or Buntings they do not ap- 

 pear to reject young wheat, small vetches, tender 

 sprouts of grass and seeds ; * but as most of these 

 birds feed their young, partially at all events, with 

 insects, the young Cuckoos get some of their proper 

 food : under any circumstances it is a voracious 

 feeder. 



Cuckoos have often been kept tame, having been 

 taken when young and fed upon raw meat and other 

 things, but they do not appear to thrive properly 

 without caterpillars and insects. 



The Cuckoo is not a very gay bird in plumage: it 

 may, at a distance, both from its appearance and 

 from the manner of flight, be mistaken for a hawk ; 

 indeed l ,the small birds themselves appear to 

 make this mistake, as they may occasionally 



Yarrell, vol. ii., p. 199. 



