THE CUCKOO. 49 
leave us. It is not limited to any particular style of country, being met with 
equally in moorland or forest, arable land or fruit-garden. On the wing it is 
powerful, its flight being usually direct, but occasionally with a wild swerving 
character which reminds one of a frightened Pigeon. Where trees are numerous 
I believe that this bird prefers to alight on them, and never descends to the 
ground unless from necessity; its somewhat short legs and the character of its 
toes make its progression upon the earth both awkward and ludicrous, sometimes 
resembling the clumsy waddle of a Parrot, but frequently consisting of a series of 
jumps. The note of the Cuckoo is often whoo-coo, the ¢ sound even in the latter 
half of its note being very imperfectly defined; but some males also sound the 
initial c—coock-oo: I have heard both notes equally commonly, and I believe that 
they are peculiar t6é individual birds. Frequently in the spring, and especially 
when it has been chasing a female, I have heard the cry whoo-coockoo.. The female 
has a different note again, a kind of rattling guttural coo, which has been some- 
what aptly likened to the sound of bubbling water, whilst the young bird when 
calling for food has a harsh aggressive chirp. 
The favourite food of the Cuckoo consists of hairy caterpillars, those of the 
Buff-tip moth, which are eaten by few other birds, being probably kept in check 
principally by this species; but many insects and their larve are eaten by it, and 
doubtless spiders. 
As regards the nidification of the Cuckoo, its parasitic habit of placing its 
eggs in the nests of other birds has always been a subject of the greatest interest 
and has given rise to endless discussions amongst Naturalists. Many years ago 
the fact that its eggs were frequently found in nests which it was impossible for 
the bird to enter, or which were incapable of supporting its weight, aroused con- 
siderable wonder, and long before the fact was finally proved by actual observation 
it was conjectured that, like some of its foreign allies, the Cuckoo deposited its 
eggs on the ground and carried them in its mouth to the selected nest. 
As early as 1851 Mr. J. A. Harper recorded in the “ Zoologist” (p. 3145) * 
the fact of his following a Cuckoo to a meadow, where he observed it wandering 
about with some substance in its mouth; after shooting it he discovered this 
“substance”? to be its egg, and upon dissecting the bird he found that the cloaca 
contained another egg almost of the same size, but without shell. Mr. Bidwell 
eventually established the fact that this is the method adopted by our Cuckoo, 
thus offering a complete explanation of the popular idea that this bird sucks eggs, 
which owed its origin simply to the fact that, from time to time, the parent bird 
had been shot in the act of carrying its egg to a nest. 
* He had, however, been forestalled by Macgillivray in the third volume of his British Birds.—A.G.B. 
Vot. III I 
