270 Cuculidce. 



numerous at Ward our; and I should say it occurs sparingly 

 throughout the county. 



CUCULIDJE (THE CUCKOOS). 



This family is but scantily represented in this county, for we 

 have but one species, though that one so well known, and its 

 periodical appearance so generally hailed with delight as a 

 harbinger of summer, that it has attracted as much attention 

 as many families comprising several genera and many species. 

 They all feed on insects and soft fruit, and are therefore unable 

 to reside during winter in cold countries; their flight is singularly 

 smooth and gliding and very rapid, and they move quickly from 

 bough to bough, rather leaping from branch to branch than 

 climbing like those families of this tribe previously described; 

 on the ground they are awkward and constrained, their feet 

 being very short and weak. The tails of birds of this family are 

 peculiarly ample, very broad as well as long. 



111. COMMON CUCKOO (Cuculua canorus). 



In all languages this bird derives its name from the note it 

 utters, which the several nations have syllabled to their own 

 fancy. Thus in classical Latin it is Cuculus ; in Greek, xfaxv* ; 

 in French, Coucou ; in German, Kukuk ; in Italian, Cucule ; in 

 Spain, Cucu ; in Portuguese, Cuco ; in English, Cuckoo. There 

 is no need to assert that this bird occurs throughout the county, 

 for who does not hear its well-known cry every April in his own 

 parish and garden; and yet everybody does not know the 

 appearance of the bird, so much resembling the Kestrel or 

 Sparrow-hawk at first sight; the dark lead-coloured plumage 

 above, the light under parts barred with brown, and the full 

 dark yellow eye, all contributing to the general resemblance; 

 but when we come to look nearer, we are soon undeceived, for 

 the beak is small, soft, slender, and nearly straight, like those of 

 other insectivorous birds, and the feet are small and weak, with 

 two toes before and two behind, after the manner of other 

 climbing birds, and not at all like the strong hooked beak and 



