168 HAWKS AND HAWK-LIKE BIRDS. 



the absence of the Hawk's hooked bill, just as 

 examination of the yellow feet would show that 

 here are no strong claws to grip victims them- 

 selves not always weak, but the climbing feet of the 

 Woodpeckers and their like. The note of the female 

 bird is a bubbling sound, often uttered as she flies, 

 and will be at once recognised as resembling the 

 bubbling of fluid poured from a narrow-necked bottle. 

 The Cuckoo occurs throughout the British Isles, is a 

 bird of the open country broken by tree-clumps, bush- 

 growth, and hedges, and when perehing on bush or 

 hedge, generally stands at the top in full view, dip- 

 ping its head and cocking its tail as it utters 

 ' Cuckoo ! ' The only birds with which the Cuckoo 

 might be confounded are those of the Hawk tribe ; 

 but every Hawk, Falcon, or Harrier lias a hooked 

 bill. 



