540 AVES-CUCKOO. 



wild bees. It Is exceedingly fond of honey and of the bee maggots, and its 

 iServices are generally rewarded by leaving it a small portion of the spoil. In 

 its external appearance it differs not much from the common sparrow, except 

 in being somewhat larger, and of a lighter color. It has also a white spot on 

 each shoulder, and its tail feathers are dashed with white. The morning 

 and evening are its principal meal times ; at least, it is then that it shows 

 the greatest inclination to come forth, and with a grating cry of cherr, cherr, 

 cherr, to excite the attention of the ratel, as well as of the Hottentots and 

 colonists. Somebody then generally repairs to the place Avhence the sound 

 proceeds ; when the bird, continually repeating its cry of cherr, cherr, cherr, 

 flies on slowly, and by degrees, towards the quarter where the bees have 

 taken up their abode. The persons thus invited, accordingly follow; taking 

 care at the same time not to frighten their guide by any unusual noise, but 

 rather to answer it now and then with a soft and gentle whistle, by way of 

 letting the bird know that its call is attended to. When the bees' nest is at 

 some distance, the bird often makes long stages of flight, waiting for its 

 sporting companions between each flight, and calling to them again to come 

 on ; but flies to shorter distances, and repeats its cry more frequently and 

 with more earnestness, as they approach nearer to the nest. When the bird 

 has sometimes, through its impatience, got too far ahead of its followers, 

 but particularly when, from the tinevenness of the ground, they have not 

 been able to keep pace with it, it has flown back to meet them, and Vv^ith 

 redoubled cries has denoted still greater impatience, as though reproaching 

 them for being so tardy. When it comes to the bees' nest, whether in the 

 cleft of a rock, the hollow of a tree, or a cavity in the earth, it hovers over 

 the spot for a few seconds ; after which it sits in silence, and for the most 

 part concealed, in some neighboring tree or bush, in expectation of what 

 may happen, and with a view of receiving its share of the booty. 



THE EUROPEAN CUCKOO. ^ 



This singular bird is about fourteen inches in length, shaped somewhat 

 like a magpie, and distinguished from all other birds by its round pro- 

 minent nostrils. The head, neck, back, and wing-coverts are of a dove 

 color ; the throat is a pale gray ; the breast and belly are white, crossed with 

 "wavy lines of black ; the tail consists of ten feathers ; the two middle ones 

 black, with white tips; the others dusky, and marked with alternate spots 

 of white on each side of the shaft. The legs are of a yellow color, and the 



' Cuculus canorus, Lin. The genus Cuculus has the bill as long as the head, com- 

 pressed, and slightly curved ; nostrils hasal, pierced in the margin of the mandible, and 

 surrounded by a naked and prominent membrane ; legs feathered below the knee ; fore 

 toes united at the base ; hind toes divided, the exterior reversible ; tail long, more or less 

 graduated ; the tliird quill feather the longest. 



