204 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



Induced by this assertion, we procured a cuckoo ; and, 

 cutting open the breast-bone, and exposing the intestines 

 to sight, found the crop lying as mentioned above. This 

 stomach was large and round, and stuffed hard like a 

 pin-cushion with food, which, upon nice examination, we 

 found to consist of various insects ; such as small scarabs, 

 spiders and dragon-flies ; the last of which we have seen 

 cuckoos catching on the wing as they were just emerging 

 out of the aurelia state. Among this farrago also were 

 to be seen maggots, and many seeds, which belonged 

 either to gooseberries, currants, cranberries, or some such 

 fruit ; so that these birds apparently subsist on insects 

 and fruits : nor was there the least appearance of bones, 

 feathers, or fur to support the idle notion of their being 

 birds of prey. 



The sternum in this bird seemed to us to be remark- 

 ably short, between which and the anus lay the crop, 

 or craw, and immediately behind that the bowels against 

 the backbone. 



It must be allowed, as this anatomist observes, that 

 the crop placed just upon the bowels must, especially 

 when full, be in a very uneasy situation during the busi- 

 ness of incubation ; yet the test will be to examine 

 whether birds that are actually known to sit for certain 

 are not formed in a similar manner. This inquiry I pro- 

 posed to myself to make with a fern-owl, or goat-sucker, 

 as soon as opportunity offered : because, if their informa- 

 tion proves the same, the reason for incapacity in the 

 cuckoo will be allowed to have been taken up somewhat 

 hastily. 



Not long after a fern-owl was procured, which, from 

 its habit and shape, we suspected might resemble the 

 cuckoo in its internal construction. Nor were our 

 suspicions ill-grounded ; for, upon the dissection, the 

 crop, or craw, also lay behind the sternum, immediately 



