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Suborder COCCYGES ZYGODACTYLI. 

 Family CUCULID^l. 



Genus CUCULUS. 

 Cuculus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 168 (1766). 



The species belonging to the genus Cuculus are distributed throughout the Palaearctic, Ethiopian, 

 Oriental, and Australian Regions, only one species being found in the Western Palaearctic Region, 

 where it is a summer visitant, migrating southward early in the autumn. 



These birds frequent gardens, groves, and fields, in fact any localities where their insect food 

 is abundant. They are shy and wild, tolerably swift on the wing, flying somewhat like a Hawk ; 

 but on the ground they are clumsy and awkward, and progress by means of short hops. They 

 feed entirely on insects of various kinds, being very partial to hairy caterpillars. Their call-note 

 consists of the well-known syllables ku koo, from which they derive their name, this being the 

 call-note of the male only, the call of the female being a sort of laughing note. 



The Cuckoos are peculiar in their breeding-habits ; for they make no nest, nor do they take 

 any care of their offspring, but deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds, to whose care they 

 leave them entirely. Full particulars of the breeding-habits of our Cuckoo are given in the 

 following article. 



Cuculus canorus, the type of the genus, has the bill rather short, wide at the base, com- 

 pressed towards the tip, decurved, and pointed ; nostrils basal, oblong, bare ; head without 

 crest ; wings long, broad, but pointed, the first quill shorter than the sixth, the second about 

 equal to the fourth, the third longest ; tail long, graduated ; feet rather short, weak, two toes 

 directed forward and two backward ; tarsus short, scutellate, feathered for about half its length ; 

 claws strong, compressed, curved, acute. 



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