cuckow. 261 



The notes of both sexes are said by some to be alike, but by 

 others that the female is a mute bird. Dr. Jenner says, the note, or 

 cry, may be not unaptly compared with that of the Dobchick; Col. 

 Montagu calls it a chattering' noise. It has been remarked, that the 

 note begins early in the season with the interval of a minor third ; 

 the bird then proceeds to a major third, next to a fourth, then a 

 fifth, after which his voice breaks, without ever attaining a minor 

 sixth.* 



The egg figured by Sepp is certainly not that of a Cuckow, 

 being shaped like that of a Hawk, and the size of a Jackdaw's, of 

 a greenish white, speckled with brown ; and not far different is that 

 figured by Dr. Bloch, in the Berlin 2Vansactions,-\ both of which 

 appear to me more like the eggs of the Goatsucker ; whereas, the 

 true Cuckow's egg, as before observed, is scarcely larger than that 

 of the House Sparrow, and very like it in the markings ; and the 

 number laid in one season uncertain. In one of these birds, 

 dissected by Dr. Lamb, there were not only two eggs in the ovary, 

 one of them, just on the point of exclusion, and another increased 

 to about half the size ; but besides, a vast number of small ones ; 

 and in respect to food, the stomach contained both small caterpillars 

 and small seeds. Similar observations, as well as many others of 

 much importance, may be found in Dr. Jenner's excellent essay on 

 the subject, in the Philosophical Transactions, as above stated. 



I have three or four times heard the Cuckow call in the night, 

 especially on the 10th of May, 1783, at midnight ; but it may not 

 be amiss to observe, that at the several times the moon shone very 

 brightly. 



Young birds are now and then brought up tame from the nest, 

 and in this state become familiar, eating bread and milk, fruit, eggs, 



* See Lin. Trans, vii. p. 310. 



f Besc. d. Berl. Gesch. iv. t. 18. f. 1. M. Prof. Sanders must certainly have mistaken 

 the egg, both from his calling the weight half a loth, as well as when he says, the bird lays 

 two eggs on the ground, between the roots of old trees. — See Naturf. xiv. s. 49. 



