514 • CLASS AVES. ^ 



in the month of May, and departs in the same manner in 

 September. It crooks itself to the trunk of a tree, but does 

 not climb, though its feet seem conformed for that motion, like 

 those of the woodpeckers. It even seldom perches, except 

 for the purpose of going to sleep ; it has a curious method 

 in perching of holding its body back. It is most frequently 

 seen on the ground, where it collects its food ; it darts its 

 lonfiT tonffue into an anthill, and draws it out loaded with 

 ants, which are retained by the viscous liquid which covers it. 



The male is heard in the woods soon after the cuckow ; its 

 cry is a sort of sharp and prolonged hissing. The female 

 makes no nest, but lays in the hollows of trees, in the dust of 

 rotten wood : the eggs are from eight to ten in number, of 

 an ivory white. The young, by their habit of hissing often 

 deter the plunderer of the nest, who fears to lay his hand on 

 a serpent. 



It is difficult to preserve these birds for any time in 

 cages, for want of the aliment which is suitable to them ; they 

 may, however, be fed for a time with ant-eggs. 



This species, without being numerous, is extended through- 

 out all Europe, from Greece to Lapland; it is also to be 

 met with in Siberia and Kamtschatka; Kolben tells us it is 

 found at the Cape. 



The Cuckow (Cuculus) forms a very large genus, divided 

 by our author into several sub-genera. Of the CucKows 

 proper, the propagation is said to be the same among the 

 foreign species as among our own ; that is to say, they con- 

 struct no nest, but employ those of other birds, in which to 

 deposit their eggs, and confide their progeny to the care of 

 strangers. The cause of this phenomenon, which is without 

 parallel in the history of birds, is as yet unknown. M. He- 

 rissant is inclined to attribute it to the peculiar conformation 

 of the viscera in the cuckow, which opposes itself to the pro- 

 cess of incubation ; in other birds, he says, the stomach is 



