264 Calls and Young Cuckoo Birds. 



different and disappointing, and not at all pleasant to 

 hear, neither did he call so often. 



" His food consisted of meal worms, principally, 

 of which he ate seventy-three, one after the other, on 

 one occasion. He took them all from the hand, too. 

 He also had made up for him daily, minced hard- 

 boiled egg, minced lettuce, grated carrot, grated 

 boiled liver, and ants' eggs, all mixed together. He 

 was also very fond of small pieces of raw meat. He 

 had also on one occasion a feed of very small live 

 frogs, v/hich he seemed to appreciate very much. I 

 have heard people say that cuckoos ate other birds' 

 eggs. Well, I put small birds' eggs into his cage 

 repeatedly, and he would never touch them. He was 

 a very intelligent bird, and made friends with every- 

 body. He would fight playfully with your finger ; 

 putting out his wings and pecking vigorously, and 

 uttering all the while a sort of guttural sound from 

 the back of his throat. He vifould never take a bath. 

 Once or twice I gave him a shower-bath, but he just 

 sulked in a corner till he was dry again — never offer- 

 ing to dress or preen his wet feathers, as any other 

 bird would. 



" It has never been in a position to hear the note of 

 its wild companions, but has been reared among the 

 shrieks of parrots, the piping of bullfinches, and 

 the trilling of German canaries. On one occasion, 

 when the parrots were screaming in chorus, the 

 cuckoo commenced calling vigorously, and, to the 

 astonishment of its owner, it soon had the field to 

 itself, for the parrots, by common consent, seemed to 

 stop and listen." 



This experience, though it is opposed by that of 



