THE CUCKOO 145 



The Cuckoo is a very slender, long-tailed bird, 12 

 inches in length. In the male bird the mantle is ashen- 

 grey, the tail has cross stripes, theunder-partsare whitish 

 with cross-running wavy lines. The female and young 

 ones, with their reddish-brown dark cross bands, remind 

 us of the Hawk. From this arises the popular supersti- 

 tion that the Cuckoo changes into a hawk in late autumn. 

 The legs are yellow; eyes fiery red edged with yellow, 

 beak dark, reddish at the corners. It never builds a 

 nest. In its system of transplanting it shows itself an 

 arrant knave, for it places its eggs in the nests of other 

 birds, whose eggs, as a rule are totally different in size, 

 colour and form. The eggs of one Cuckoo so placed 

 may reach the number of 20 to 22, but as a rule are 

 about ii to 12. 



With regard to the Cuckoo's usual habit of leaving 

 us in the autumn, a belated young bird may now and 

 again spend the winter here. One frequented my sister's 

 tennis ground till the end of November, when the cat 

 caught and killed it; and a gentleman of my acquaint- 

 ance, Mr. Robinson of Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, saw 

 one on his farm early in February of 1908. 



K 



