NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 199 



LETTER XXX. 



SELBORNE, April 3rd, 1776. 



MONSIEUR HERISSANT, a French anatomist, seems persuaded 

 that he has discovered the reason why cuckoos do not hatch 

 their own eggs; the impediment, he supposes, arises from 

 the internal structure of their parts, which incapacitates 

 them for incubation. According to this gentleman, the 

 crop, or craw, of a cuckoo does not lie before the sternum 

 at the bottom of the neck, as in the gallince, columbce, etc., 

 but immediately behind it, on and over the bowels, so as to 

 make a large protuberance in the belly. 



Induced by this assertion, we procured a cuckoo; and, 

 cutting open the breast-bone, and exposing the intestines to 

 sight, found the crop lying as mentioned above. This 

 stomach was large and round, and stuffed hard, like a pin- 

 cushion, with food, which, upon nice examination, we found 

 to consist of various insects ; such as small scarabs, spiders, 

 and dragon-flies ; the last of which we have seen cuckoos 

 catching on the wing as they were just emerging out of the 

 aurelia state. Among this farrago also were to be seen 

 maggots, and many seeds, which belonged either to goose- 

 berries, currants, cranberries, or some such fruit ; so that 

 these birds apparently subsist on insects and fruits ; nor 

 was there the least appearance of bones, feathers, or fur, to 

 support the idle notion of their being birds of prey. 



The sternum in this bird seemed to us to be remarkably 

 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 upon the bowels must, especially when full, 



