THE CUCKOO. 363 



others were to be had. Every caterpillar was viscerated by the 

 bird previous to being swallowed, as were the mice also when 

 young enough for this process : the latter were always swallowed 

 head foremost, and for a considerable time afterwards, their tails 

 appeared dangling from the cuckoo's bill. When the season was 

 too far advanced for caterpillars to be procured, this bird was fed 

 on raw flesh-meat, and seemed to gain much strength in conse- 

 quence : with this, and hard-boiled eggs, it was supplied throughout 

 the winter. It never consumed less in a day than a couple of 

 eggs, in addition to a little of some other food. It is described 

 as having been apparently deficient in the power of. picking up 

 little fragments of anything, as bits of egg, &c. To the last, it 

 gaped to be fed with all bat caterpillars, — its natural food. Being 

 remarkably sharp-sighted, it would perceive from the opposite 

 side of the room, if a caterpillar had escaped, and with the utmost 

 rapidity dart at and seize the prey. This bird was, from its note, 

 presumed to be a female : it was originally taken from a titlark's 

 nest. Montagu, in the supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary, 

 gives so full and interesting an account of a cuckoo which he 

 kept, that a portion of the above is but a counterpart of his nar- 

 rative. It seemed to me, however, that all particulars respecting 

 Mr. Tempieton's bird, were well worthy of being recorded. 



In Holland, I have heard the call of the cuckoo, in the king's 

 park at the Hague, towards the end of May, and in Switzerland, 

 late in June. Its well-known cry was most gratifying to my 

 ear, when (on the 16th of May) riding over the bare wild hills and 

 through the forest between Constantinople and the picturesque 

 village of Belgrade, — once the residence of Lady Mary Wortley 

 Montagu. In the vicinity of Navarino, on the 28th of April, 

 a small flock of seven or eight birds, which were believed to be 

 cuckoos, flew near to me, proceeding in a northerly direction, but 

 the call was wanting to prove the species. This bird occasionally 

 utters the note " cu-cu " sharply several times successively, which 

 I have particularly remarked when two or three are in company. 



