Ciickoos in captivity.



31



CUCKOOS IN CAPTIVITY.


Bv Dr. E. Hopkinson, D.S.O., M.A.


As cage-birds the Cuckoo family does not excel, “ of that

there is no shadow of doubt, no shadow of doubt whatever.” This

is, I suppose, the reason why they find no place in Dr. Butler’s

invaluable two volumes, ‘ Foreign Birds for Cage and Aviary.’

Nevertheless, as a few are possible cage-birds and have been kept as

such, an account of the species which come under this head, with a

collation of what records there are of these birds in confinement, is

of some interest. May I also hope that it will perhaps be of assist¬

ance to the learned doctor, if he is thinking of giving us a new

edition of his book, to deal with the many additions to aviculture of

the last ten years, an event which would receive, I feel sure, the

warmest welcome.


Except for one of the Coucals, which I kept for a short time

in West Africa, I have had no personal experience of the members of

this family as cage-birds, and what follows is the result of gleaning

in the literature at my command. These records, however, I hardly

think will lead me or anyone else to become a Cuckoo-enthusiast, for

they contain little to recommend apart from the difficulty of

obtaining as well as keeping most of these birds and their rarity as

cage-birds, circumstances which, however, will always attract or be

a stimulus to endeavour to some minds. Anyhow, records are

records, and as such are always worth preserving, so I give them for

what they are worth.


1. The Common Cuckoo (Guculus canorus).


This, the best known member of the family, is also the only

one which has been at all commonly kept in captivity, and it would

appear, under these conditions, to have the worst character of all.

Yet in spite of this, in Greene’s ‘ Notes on Cage-bircls,’ a correspon¬

dent is mentioned as having kept one two seasons. This correspon¬

dent kept his Cuckoos in a large garden aviary, but even then and

even from his own account, one can only wonder at his forbearance.


Bechstein, the pioneer of cage-bird literature, devotes a

chapter (page 113 of Bohn’s edition) to this bird, and has very little



