ORDER SCANSORES. 533 



to have been detached by the young bird from the nest- 

 Little pellets of hair have also often been discovered in the 

 stomach of old cuckows ; but they were evidently the remains 

 of the hairy caterpillars which these birds had swallowed. 



Various kinds of food, not necessary to be enumerated here, 

 are given to cuckows in a state of captivity. It may be 

 observed, that the omnivorous regimen, properly regulated, is 

 as suitable to insectivorous birds as it is to man. 



Many observers have remarked in the cuckows a repug- 

 nance to drinking, and that they have even rejected water, 

 which has been put forcibly, or by stratagem, down their 

 throats ; this remark, however, does not apply to them all- 

 Sonnini has recited a case of a young cuckow taken from the 

 nest, when just about to fly, whose habit was totally different; 

 it drank readily of its own accord, and always gave signs of 

 satisfaction on being presented with water. 



Though wild and solitary, the cuckows are not altogether 

 unsusceptible of education ; a cuckow has been known to 

 recognize its master, come at his call, and even follow him to 

 the chase, perched upon his fowling-piece. When this 

 cuckow found a cherry-tree in the path, he flew to it, and 

 picked plentifully ; sometimes he would go off^, and not 

 return to his master for the entire day, but he would always 

 keep him in sight, hovering from tree to tree. In the house, 

 this bird was left at perfect liberty, and used to pass the night on 

 a perch. Olivier asserts, that the cuckow might be trained to 

 the chase, like the hawk, or the falcon ; but this is most as- 

 suredly an error, occasioned by the resemblance of the plumage. 



To preserve these birds during winter they must be care- 

 fully secured from cold, especially at the transition from 

 autumn to that season, which is always a critical, and often a 

 fatal period to them. Some get into a languishing state at 

 this time, and exhibit cutaneous eruptions. 



Others perish in the moulting ; but before they die they 

 fall into a state of lethargy and torpor. Their moulting is 



