Periodical 
visitant. 
98 ZYGODACTYLI. CUCULUS. Cuckoo. 
Common Cuckoo.—Cuculus canorus, Linn. 
PLATE 37. and PLATE 45, *** Fig. 1. 
Cuculus canorus, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 168. 1.—Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 409. sp. 1.—Raii, 
Syn. p. 23.—Will. p. 6. t. 10. 27.—Briss. 4. p. 105. 1.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. 
v. 1. p. 207. 1. 
Cuculus hepaticus, Lath. Ind. Ornith. v. 1. p. 215. sp. 25. 
Le Coucou gris. Buff: Ois. v. 6. p. 305.—Id. Pl. Enl. 811. 
Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afric. v. 5. pl. 202. and 200.—Temm. Man. d’Ornith. v. 1. 
p- 382. 
Asch-Grauer oder gemeine Kukuk, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. v. 2. p. 1120.— 
Meyer, 'Tasschenb. Deut. v. 1. p. 110.--Frisch. Vég. t. 40. 
Cuculus canorus rufus, Gme/. Syst. 1. p. 409. sp. 1. var. B.—ZLath. Ind. 
Ornith. v. 1. p. 208. var. B. 
Common Cuckoo, Br. Zool. 1. No. 82. pl. 36.—Arct. Zool. 2. p. 266. A.— 
Lewin’s Br. Birds, t. 42.—Haye’s Br. Birds, t. 17. 18.—LZath. Syn. 2. 
p- 509. 1.—Jd. Supp. p. 98.—Mont. Ornith. Dict.—Id. Supp.—Bewick’s 
Br. Birds, p. 108.—Shaw’s Zool. v. 9. p. 68. 
Provincial, Gowk. 
The cuckoo makes its appearance with us in the month of 
April, and departs again about the latter part of June, or the 
beginning of July. But the young birds are often observed 
to remain for a much longer period, and I have shot them as 
late as in the month of September. The reputed story of the 
cuckoo making no nest of its own, but depositing its egg in 
that of some other bird, to be hatched, and the young one 
reared by foster-parents, has, within these late years, been 
fully substantiated, and found to have its origin in fact. A 
very interesting paper on this subject, by Dr JENNER, is 
given in the Philosophical ‘Transactions for 1788, to which, 
and the very apposite and curious observations of Mr Mon- 
Tacu on the economy of this bird, in the Introduction to his 
Ornithological Dictionary, I beg to refer my readers. It ap- 
pears that the nest of the hedge-accentor (Accentor modula- 
ris), is the one most frequently selected by the cuckoo in 
the south of England sometimes, however, that of the yel- 
low-hammer (Hmberiza citrinella), the wagtail (Motacilla 
alba), and the meadow-pipit (Anthus pratensis), answer its 
purpose. 
In Northumberland, constant experience tells me, that the 
nest of the last mentioned bird is the one almost always cho- 
