270 VEETEBRATES. 



versally welcomed. The Cuckoo is silent some time after his 

 arrival ; and his note is considered as a love-call to his mate. It 

 is very singular that this bird never builds a nest for herself, nor 

 hatches her own eggs. She lays her eggs in the nest of another, 

 and leaves her offspring to be nourished and brought up by a 

 parent not their own. Unlike the generality of birds, cuckoos do 

 uot pair. The nests in which they generally deposit their eggs 

 are those of the hedge-sparrow, the water-wagtail, the tit-lark, the 

 yellow-hammer, the green-linnet, and the whinchat. The eggs of 

 the Cuckoo are hatched about the same time with the eggs of these 

 birds. And what is extraordinary, as soon as the young cuckoos 

 are liberated from the shells, though blind, they immediately com- 

 mence turning out all the young of the natural owner of the nest, 

 and they continue their effort till they have removed them all, and 

 thus retain fall possession of the nest which their own unfeeling 

 parent had usurped. The celebrated Dr. Jenner relates several 

 facts connected with this strange procedure of the young cuckoos, 

 which leave the matter without the shadow of a doubt. In mi- 

 grating the greater part of these birds are supposed to go into 

 Africa, as they are observed to visit Malta twice a year. This 

 bird was forbidden to be eaten by the Levitical law. 



ORDER IV. SCRATCHERS. 



Of this order are the peacock, the turkey, the common 

 fowl, the pheasant, the partridge, the quail, the pigeon, etc. 

 Among them are nearly all those birds which have been domesti- 

 cated, and are raised in poultry yards. Their wings are short and 

 weak, and of course they are not constructed for long-continued 

 flight ; but they are capable of running with considerable rapidity. 

 They Lave a large crop and a very powerful gizzard, their food 

 consisting principally of hard grain. Their flesh in general fur- 

 nishes excellent food. The males are distinguished by a stately 

 gait, and frequently by a tail ornamented with long feathers. They 

 do not live in pairs ; their eggs are very numerous, and are laid 

 in nests built of chaff or straw upon the ground. Their young 

 are generally able to run about as soon as hatrhed. 



