THE COMMON CUCKOO. 113 



" The green cicada chirping 'mid the grass, 

 The crested Hoopoes singing as they pass, 

 To charm the sense and soothe the pensive heart, 

 And bid sweet dreams and gentlest fancies start." 



19. THE COMMON CUCKOO. 



Cuculus Canorus, LIN T . Coucou, BUF. Der Gemeine KticJcuk, BECH. Euro- 

 pean, ashen grey, singing Guchang, Gucher, GER. 



Description. This bird, about the size of the Turtle Dove, is 

 fourteen inches long, of which the tail measures seven ; three 

 quarters of it being covered by the folded wings. The beak, 

 one inch long, curves gradually, is black above, and blueish un- 

 derneath ; saffron-yellow at the corners, and orange-red at the 

 throat. The forehead and the circumference of the eyelids 

 are yellow ; the feet are yellow, and one inch in height, having 

 two toes before and two behind, and thus being adapted for 

 climbing. The head, back of the neck, back, rump, and wing 

 coverts, are of a dark ashen grey ; the back and the wing 

 coverts changing like the Pigeon's throat. The under-part of 

 the body to the breast is of a clear ash colour throat white, 

 with dark grey waving lines ; the pen feathers dark brown, 

 with white spots on the inner side ; the tail feathers wedge- 

 shaped and black, with oval white specks in the middle, which 

 on those in the centre are hardly visible. 



The female is smaller, and is on the upper part of the body 

 dark grey, with dusky, dirty brown spots. The under part of 

 the neck is ash-coloured and yellow, mixed with blackish-brown 

 transverse streaks. The belly is a dirty white, with similar 

 stripes of dark brown. 



Habitat. When wild, it is a bird of passage, appearing at 

 the end of April, and departing in September. 



In the house, it may be allowed to run about, or confined in 

 a large wooden cage. 



Food. In a wild state, it eats several kinds of insects, and 

 picks many caterpillars from the trees. 



In confinement, it is fed with meat and the universal paste 

 of wheat meal. 



Breeding and Peculiarities. The Cuckoo is the only bird 

 which never hatches its own eggs, but lays one, or at most two 

 oggs in the nest of any insect-eating bird. To tame it, it must 

 be taken out of the nest ; a thing which I have never done . 



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