OF SELBORNE. 227 



LETTER XXX. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARTUNGTON. 



SELBORNE, April 3, 1776. 



OXSIEUR HERISSANT, a French anato- 

 mist^ seems persuaded that he has discovered 

 the reason why cuckoos do not hatch their 

 own eggs : the impediment, he supposes, 

 arises from the internal structure of their 

 parts, which incapacitates them for incubation. 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 poultry 

 (GaUincc) , pigeons (Columbce) , &c., but immediately behind 

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

 ance in the belly. 1 



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 mentioned above. This 

 stomach was large and round, and stuffed hard, like a pin- 

 cushion, 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, as they were just 

 emerging out of the aurelia state, we have seen cuckoos 

 catching on the wing. Among this farrago a 1 so were to be 

 seen maggots, and many seeds, which belonged either to 

 gooseberries, currants, cranberries, or some such fruit ; so 

 that these birds apparently subsist on insects and fruits : 

 nor was there the least appearance of bones, feathers, or 

 fur, to support the idle notion of their being birds oi prey. 

 The sternum in this bird seemed to us to be remarkably 

 short, between which and the anus lay the crop, or craw, 

 and immediately behind that, the bowels against the back- 

 bone. 



It must be allowed, as this anatomist observes, that the 



1 "Ilistoire de rAcaclcmie Royale," 1752. G. W. 



