20") 



small birds, who evidently hold it in great detestation, more especially in the breeding-season ; 

 and Naumann remarks that even the Orioles and Swallows will mob it. On the ground the 

 Cuckoo is a somewhat ungainly bird, and progresses by means of short hops ; but, as above 

 stated, it flies well, and is much on the wing, though it does not appear to traverse long distances 

 at once, but rests now and then, perching usually in the top of a tree. 



The note of the male is the well-known call which is generally heard, and consists of two 

 syllables uh, uh, rather than ku-ku, which, when the bird is greatly excited, is rendered ku-ku-lcu ; 

 and besides this it utters a peculiar harsh note which somewhat resembles the syllables Qumvawa 

 or Haghaghaghag. . The female, on the contrary, has a quite different call, a sort of laughing 

 note, uttered very quickly, like the syllables JekikicMck or Quickwickwick, which it preludes 

 with a low harsh sound. 



The Cuckoo feeds on insects of various kinds, and almost exclusively on these, though 

 Naumann states that .young birds will occasionally eat berries, especially those of Bhamnus 

 frangula. It appears to be especially partial to the hairy caterpillars, and is a most useful bird ; 

 for it destroys large numbers of insects of various kinds. Mr. Collett informs me that in Norway 

 he has found the stomachs of specimens examined by him to contain chiefly coleoptera, and only 

 occasionally larvae of the various species of Bombyoc. 



Count Casimir Wodzicki remarks (J. f. Orn. 1853, p. 297) that the Cuckoo is one of the 

 most useful species in destroying the noxious Bombyx pini, an insect that has made such terrible 

 ravages in the pine-woods of Continental Europe. " Not only does it eat its eggs," he writes, 

 "but the caterpillar itself, and does not object to its strong hairs; for its stomach is capable of 

 digesting with ease the most hairy caterpillars ; and indeed the bird appears to have a liking for 

 them. I recollect that in the year 1847 a pine-forest in the Pomeranian village of Darsin was 

 threatened with destruction by these caterpillars, when it was suddenly saved by a large number 

 of Cuckoos which were on passage, but remained a couple of weeks to enjoy the abundance of 

 food ; and in a very short time they so cleared the forest that the pests did not appear in the 

 following year. It may be calculated that each bird destroys a caterpillar every five minutes ; 

 now, reckoning that it feeds all day, and calculating the day at fourteen hours, one Cuckoo would 

 daily destroy 168, and a hundred Cuckoos 16,800 caterpillars. If half of these were females, 

 and if each would, on an average, deposit only 500 eggs, a hundred Cuckoos would in one day 

 prevent the production of 4,200,000 caterpillars, which would naturally effect a very considerable 

 damage to the forests." Dr. Fritsch also states (J. f. O. 1876, p. 78) that he was informed by 

 Mr. Zimmermann that on the island of Elbe, at Leitmeritz, the caterpillars of Liparis chrysorrhcea 

 appeared in such quantities as almost to prevent the otherwise so-much-visited promenade from 

 being used, when four pairs of Cuckoos put in an appearance, and began to clear away the 

 caterpillars ; and, owing probably to the abundance of food, they remained quite peaceably 

 together. Mr. Zimmermann reckoned from observation that a Cuckoo would devour forty of 

 these caterpillars in a minute. Macgillivray, speaking of the food of the Cuckoo, writes (Brit. 

 Birds, hi. p. 119) as follows: — "The substances which I have usually found in the stomach of 

 the Cuckoo were insects of various kinds, hairy caterpillars, and smooth larvae; but I have also 

 found in it vegetable matter. Thus, it is recorded in one of my note-books respecting a male 

 examined in June 1836, that the cuticular lining of the stomach is 'smooth, soft, in this instance 



