CUCKOO SPIT 367 



disease similar to gapes, which he is almost sure 

 comes from swallowing '' cuckoo spit " off the grass, 

 for he has often seen them pecking at it, and he 

 adds that if a young Pheasant thus affected be held 

 head downwards, a liquid exactly like " cuckoo spit " 

 will run out of its mouth. 



Now, in the first place, the insect food which is 

 so much sought after by small passerine birds is 

 not likely to prove injurious to young gallinaceous 

 birds of any kind — which swallow the " cuckoo spit " 

 more for the moisture than for the very small larva 

 which it envelops ; and, in the next place, the frothy 

 exudation from the windpipe happens to be a 

 symptom of gapes. This complaint arises from the 

 presence in the trachsea of a number of small red 

 worms, known as Syngamus trachealis, provoking a 

 spasmodic gasping in the effort to prevent suffoca- 

 tion, and a salivary exudation resulting from the 

 irritation of the mucous membrane, caused by the 

 attachment of the parasite. If the "cuckoo" spit 

 were acid or astringent in its effects it would be 

 distasteful to such delicate little birds as the Willow 

 Wren, Whitethroats, and Garden Warbler, which 

 swallow it, and would affect them in the same way 

 as it is supposed to affect young Pheasants. It is 

 probably neutral and harmless in its effects. 



What, then, it may be asked, is the connection 

 between the insect and the Cuckoo, and why should 

 the frothy investment of the larva be designated 

 "cuckoo spit"? There is, in fact, no connection 

 between the two. The notion rests upon mere 

 fable, the country people asserting that the Cuckoo 



