THE CUCKOO. 139 



bird ; they are very round in shape, have a very weak 

 and delicate shell of a dirty white colour, marked with 

 reddish spots and brown streaks ; and it is as ques- 

 tionable whether some of the little birds that have been 

 represented as hatching them, could perform that office 

 without breaking them, as it is that the yellow-hammer 

 should feed the young cuckoo with caterpillars only, 

 and its own young indiscriminately with insects and 

 seeds. We do not say that that is impossible, because 

 we are inclined to think that the yellow-hammers and 

 the kindred tribes, feed their young indiscriminately 

 with insects and seeds, according as they are most 

 easily obtained ; the adult cuckoo also has no objec- 

 tion to the pulp of soft fruits and berries, though 

 insects, more especially in their caterpillar state, are 

 its favourite food ; and it is so far fortunate that the 

 time of the cuckoo is also that at which there is the 

 greatest danger of trees being stripped of their leaves 

 by caterpillars. Thus though the bird may purloin a 

 few cherries before it takes its departure, there is no 

 knowing how far it may contribute to the preservation 

 of those fruits which do not ripen until it has taken its 

 departure to other lands. The cuckoo ceases to sing 

 early in July, and as the old ones immediately retire 

 into the covers for the summer moults, they are very 

 seldom seen on the wing, or indeed at all. The young 

 which then make their appearance are of a different 

 colour, the prevailing tint of which is liver brown, and 

 on that account they have sometimes been considered 

 as another species that did not arrive till the others 

 were gone. We need hardly mention that the old 

 story of the cuckoos lying dormant in holes and hedges 



