OF SELBOENE. 147 



for it. When I came to recollect and inquire, I could not 

 find that any cuckoo had ever been seen in these parts, 

 except in the nest of the wagtail, the hedge-sparrow, the 

 titlark, the whitethroat, and the redbreast, all soft-billed 

 insectivorous birds. The excellent Mr. Willughby mentions 



CUCKOO. 



the nest of the ring-dove (Palumbus), and of the chaffinch 1 

 (Fringilla), birds that subsist on acorns and grains, and' 

 such hard food ; but then he does not mention them as of 

 his own knowledge, but says afterwards that he saw himself 

 a wagtail feeding a cuckoo. 1 It appears hardly possible 



In October, one contained a large worm, and two or three seeds of 

 different kinds; the other two, insect larvre (Ascaris-like in form). 

 Fragments of stone, of which some were the size of small peas, were 

 found in all, the last-noted one being filled with them. 



In almost all moist soils, and in cow-dung, peculiar small thin worms 

 of a uniform deep red colour (not at all the same species found in 

 uplands and gardens) occur, and during slight frosts they come up to 

 the surface in thousands. During such weather, both woodcocks and. 

 snipe make these their chief food, and are then in first-rate condi- 

 tion. ED. 



1 In "The Ibis" for 1865, p. 178, Mr. Dawson Rowley, on the 

 authority of continental as well as British .authors, has published a list 



