518 CLASS AVES. 



They are in reality so exti-aortiinary, and at the same time 

 so difficult of observation, that it is not surprising that, for 

 the want of attentive examination, conjectures have been 

 given for facts, and vulgar stories adopted, which, however 

 absurd, have not failed to obtain a very general credence. — 

 What absurdity, indeed, is too great to shock human cre- 

 dulity ? 



Naturalists have varied even as to what becomes of the 

 cuckow during the winter. Some with reason assure us 

 that it migrates to more temperate regions ; but these are the 

 fewer number. Others tell us, that the cuckow strips itself 

 of all its feathers, and conceals itself during the bad season 

 in the hollow of a tree, where it lives in the midst of a heap 

 of grain, which it has amassed for its nourishment. Such 

 persons either would not, or could not see that, in its con- 

 formation and habits, this bird has nothing granivorous. 

 Others, granting this truth, have metamorphosed the cuckow 

 for the winter into a hawk or falcon, and made it live on 

 carcasses, birds, &c. They designate it as a perfect bird of 

 prey, without examining whether nature has given it the 

 physical capacity, or the means of seizing prey or digesting 

 flesh. Had they examined with attention the interior of its 

 body, they could not have fallen into such an error. The 

 true carnivorous animal has short intestines, is destitute of 

 the double ccecum, and has a membranous stomach, furnished 

 with a gastric juice, calculated for the solution of flesh. The 

 cuckow, on the contrary, has no such juice ; its intestines 

 are long, and it has a double coecum. The external cha/- 

 racters of this bird would be sufficient to convince us that it 

 was not carnassial ; yet this opinion has been supported, 

 because the young cuckow in captivity is fed with meat, and 

 refuses bread, though those who maintain it allow that 

 it has so strong a taste for insects, that it will instantly 

 abandon meat to feed upon them. 



A sufficient proof that flesh is not to the natural taste of 



