258 cuckow. 



II Cuculo, Olin. t. p. 38. Cett. uc. Sard. p. 86. 



Der Aschgrave Kukuk, Schmid Vog. p. 38. t. 24. 



Le Coucou vulgaire d'Europe, Levail. Afr. v. p. 26. pi. 202, 203. Buf. vi. 305. PI. 



en!. 811. Robert Ic. pi. 2. 

 Kuckuk, Win. Vog. t. 38, 39, 40. Naturf. ix. s. 48. 

 Common Cuckow, Gen. Syn.W. 509. Id. Sup. n. 133. Arct. Zool.W. 266. A. JFVor. 



Scof. i. No. 68. j*&. i. pi. 8. J%« pi. 17, 18. Bewick, i. p. 104. Br. Zool. 



i. p. 232. pi. 36. Id. 1812. i. p. 305. pi. 40. Lewin. ii. t. 44. Jrf. jE#gs t. viii. 



f. 5. Walcot. i. pi. 43. Donov. ii. pi. 41. Wood's Zoogr. i. 440. Graves Br. 



Orn. i. pi. 13. /</. jEg'g\s vol. i. part i. Om. Diet. § Supp. 



SIZE of a Turtle; length fourteen inches, breadth twenty-five; 

 weight four ounces and a half. Bill black, two-thirds of an inch 

 long, a little bent; irides yellow ; head, hind part of the neck, wing- 

 coverts, and rump dove-colour, darker on the head, and paler on the 

 rump ; throat and neck before pale grey ; breast and belly white, 

 elegantly crossed with black, undulated lines ; vent buff, with a few 

 dusky spots; wings long, reaching to within one inch and half of the 

 end of the tail ; the first quill is three inches shorter than the others, 

 all of them dusky, with oval white spots within; tail cuneiform, the 

 two middle feathers black, tipped with white, the others marked with 

 white spots on each side of the shafts; legs short and yellow. 



The female is less, and rarely more than thirteen inches long, has 

 the neck and breast inclined to tawny, and a little barred with dusky, 

 with a few indistinct, pale, rusty spots on the wing coverts, and the 

 white spots on the quills and tail dusky on their edges. 



Young birds are brown, mixed with ferruginous and black, and 

 in that state have been described by some as old ones : the name of 

 the Cuckow in all languages, seems to have arisen from its note: in 

 some parts of England it is called Gowk. 



It is well known that a Cuckow does not hatch its own eggs, but 

 the reason is not so manifest ; some have thought it owing to the 

 great size, and length of the stomach, which protrudes far beyond the 

 sternum, and the latter being so very short, as to be insufficient to 

 take off the pressure in incubation, during which, digestion would be 

 impeded ; but this ina} r be doubted, as it is known that several birds 

 do hatch their own eggs, whose anatomical situation of the stomach 



