THE CUCKOO. 233 



The sternum in this bird seemed to us to be re- 

 markably short, between which and the anus lay 

 the crop, or craw, and, immediately behind that, 

 the bowels against the back-bone. 



It must be allowed, as this anatomist observes, 

 that the crop placed just below the bowels must, 

 especially when full, be in a very uneasy situation 

 during the business of incubation : yet the test will 

 be, to examine whether birds that are actually 

 known to sit for certain are not formed in a simi- 

 lar manner. This inquiry I proposed to myself to 

 make with a fern-owl, or goat- sucker, as soon 

 as opportunity offered : because if their formation 

 proves the same, the reason for incapacity in the 

 cuckoo will be allowed to have been taken up 

 somewhat hastily. 



Not long after, a fern-owl w r as procured, which, 

 from its habit and shape, we suspected might 

 resemble the cuckoo in its internal construction. 

 Nor were our suspicions ill-grounded ; for, upon 

 the dissection, the crop, or craw, also lay behind 

 the sternum, immediately on the viscera, between 

 them and the skin of the belly. It was bulky, 

 and stuffed hard with large phal&ntf, moths of 

 several sorts, and their eggs, which, no doubt, 

 had been forced out of these insects by the action 

 of swallowing. 



Now, as it appears that this bird, which is so 

 well known to practise incubation, is formed in a 

 similar manner with cuckoos, Monsieur Herissant's 

 conjecture, that cuckoos are incapable of incuba- 

 tion from the disposition of their intestines, seems 

 to fall to the ground : and we are still at a loss 

 for the cause of that strange and singular pecu- 

 liarity in the instance of the cuculus canorus. 



We found the case to be the same with the ring- 

 tail hawk, in respect to formation ; and, as far as 



