IBTEODTJOTIOir. 



8S 



to feed on the Bee-grubs, not on the honey, and they will guide 

 to nests which contain no honey. The Indicators are plain 

 Birds, and have a very bad habit, since they will lay their eggs 

 in other Birds' nests. 



In this they resemble the Cuckoo (Guculug eanorus), a Bird 

 with which almost all Englishmen must be familiar — at least 

 as regards its monotonous song. It is a type and repre- 

 sentative of a wonderfully distinct group of Birds, which 

 includes about one hundred and sixty-five species, although to 

 the uninstructed eye they may not seem nearly so distinctly 



Fig. 87. 



The Cuckoo {CiioiUus eanorus). 



marked a group as those which contain the Parrots, "Wood- 

 peckers, or Kingfishers. Ornithologists associate with them 

 the group of Plantain-eaters, before noticed*, making a 

 group of one hundred and ninety-one species, at the least. 

 Cuckoos are very widely diffused, and extend into both the Old 

 and New Worlds, including Australia and the West Indies. 

 They seem to te absent from the coldest regions alone. 



In summer evenings, in the South of England, a curious noise, 

 like the sound of a small rattle, is very commonly to be heard. 



* See ante, p. 79. 



