364 CUCKOOS. 
darted rapidly in every direction, the neck and central line of the back 
twisting in a manner that reminds the observer of a snake. When captured 
or wounded, it will lie on its back, ruffle up its feathers, erect its neck, and 
hiss so like an angry serpent that it is in some places known by the name of 
the snake-bird. 
The nest of the Wryneck is hardly deserving of that name, being merely 
composed of chips of decaying wood. The eggs are laid in the hollow of a 
tree, not wholly excavated by the bird, as is the case with the woodpeckers, its 
beak not being sufficiently strong for such a task, but adapted to the purpose 
from some already existing hole. 
The number of eggs laid by the Wryneck is rather great, as many as ten 
having often been found in a single nest. In one instance no less than 
twenty-two eggs were taken at four intervals. Their colour is beautiful 
white with a pinky tinge, not unlike those of the kingfisher; and as this 
pink colour is produced by the yolk showing itself through the delicate shell, 
» it is, of course, lost when 
the egg is emptied of its 
contents. The plumage 
of this little bird, al- 
though devoid of bril- 
liant hues, and decked 
only with brown, black, 
and grey, is really hand- 
some, from the manner 
in which those appa- 
rently sombre tints are 
disposed. 
THE CUCKOOS consti- 
tute a large family, con- 
taining several smaller 
groups and many spe- 
cies. Two representa- 
tives of the groups will 
be found in the following 
pages. All these birds 
have a_ rather long, 
slender, and somewhat 
curved beak, which in 
some species takes a curve so decided, that it gives quite a predaceous air - 
to its owner. Examples of the Cuckoo tribe are to be found in almost every 
portion of the globe, and are most plentiful about the tropics. 
THERE are few birds which are more widely known by good and evil 
report than the common CUCKOO. 
It is well known that the female Cuckoo does not make any nest, but 
places her egg in the nest of some small bird, and leaves it to the care of its 
unwitting foster-parents. Various birds are burdened with this charge, such 
as the hedge-warbler, the pied-wagtail, the meadow-pipit, the red-backed 
shrike, the blackbird, and various finches. Generally, however, the three 
first are those preferred. Considering the size of the mother-bird, the egg 
of the Cuckoo is remarkably small, being about the same size as that of the 
skylark, although the latter bird has barely one-fourth the dimensions of the 
former. The little birds, therefore, which are always careless about the 
colour or form of an egg, provided that it be nearly the size of their own 
productions, do not detect the imposition, and hatch the interloner ‘o ether 
with their own young, 
Cuckoo.—(Cuculus Canorus.) 
