LETTER LXXII. 

 To THE Honourable Daines Barrington. 



Monsieur Herissant, a French anatomist, seems 

 persuaded that he has discovered the reason why 

 cuckoos do not hatch their own eggs; the impedi- 

 ment, he supposes, arises from the internal structure 

 of their parts, which incapacitates them for incuba- 

 tion. 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 poultry, gallince, and 

 pigeons, columbce, &c., but immediately behind it, on 

 and over the bowels, so as to make a large protuber- 

 ance 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 men- 

 tioned above. This stomach was large and round, 

 and stuffed hard like a pincushion 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 catch- 

 ing 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 gooseberries, currants, cranberries, or some 



* Histoire de rAcad^mie Royale, 1752. 

 70 



