





276 KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
MORE ABOUT THE CUCKOO. 
' 
AS OUR PAGES are expected to contain 
everything connected with the Cuckoo,— 
a bird Messrs. Doubleday, Bree, & Co. labor 
so hard to prove ‘‘ unnatural,’ we gladly 
register all that tends to upset their ridi- 
culous and old wives’ theory. 
We have elaborately treated of the whole 
question in former numbers; and therefore 
now only add the testimony of Mr. Meyers 
as to their general habits. It is copied from 
his “ British Birds :°— 
‘The Cuckoo is now so well known by every 
one, that we need only remark, that, besides 
visiting the British Isles, this bird is met with 
as far north as Norway, durimg the summer, 
in Kurope. Asia, and many parts of Africa, 
are also enlivened by its pleasmg mellow 
call-note. 
The cuckoo makes its appearance with us 
in the month of April, and is generally either 
the forerunner of summer weather, or travels 
hither with it. The male is generally a day 
or two in advance of the temale. ‘Their 
journey is performed during the night ; and 
they frequently return to take up their abode 
in the neighborhood occupied by them in a 
former season. The locality usually chosen 
by the cuckoo is—wherever there are trees, 
without being at all particularas to thespecies, 
or of what age or size they may be. 
We have seen these birds most numerous 
where the hedge-rows are very thick, and 
plentifully intermixed with forest or timber 
trees; about rich pasture land, and in 
sheltered and secluded situations. But more 
than one pair is rarely seen within the bounds 
of a certain district ; for though these birds 
will live peacefully as neighbors, yet they 
do not allow of trespassers on their hunting- 
grounds, and intruders are generally punished 
for their temerity. 
The cuckoo is a wild and timid bird, very 
strong on the wing; but when on the ground, 
apparently helpless and clumsy. It therefore 
suits this bird better to fly even a short dis- 
tance, than to reach it by hopping on the 
ground. dts perch is generally on a strong 
branch of a tree, or occasionally on a post or 
gate in a field, from whence the cuckoo can 
look out for its food or enemy. Incase more 
than one pair of these birds are frightened or 
started on the wing, they show their un- 
sociability very much, by not flying away 
together like most other birds ; but each pair 
separates from the rest and takes its own 
course; although the female is never far 
behind the male, who is careful not to desert 
her. 
The flight of the cuckoo resembies that of 
the sparrow-hawk. It is scarcely so rapid as 
that of the pigeon, but it excels it in making 
short turns or evolutions. 'The well-known 




pleasing call of the cuckoo, in the spring of 
the year, stands in the place of the songs of 
other birds, and helps to complete the con- 
cert of nature.* 
This call has furnished the bird with its 
name. When the bird is courting and gets 
in ecstacies, it sometimes lengthens its call 
to cuckookook, and this frequently twice or 
three times repeated. In the pairing season 
the cuckoo begins its call soon after midnight, 
and repeats it more thana hundred times in 
succession without changing its perch; after 
which it rests for a time, recommences, and 
then again rests; and thus continues until 
the morning-light reminds the bird that the 
time has arrived for him to break his fast: ; 
and he then starts off on the wing in search 
of food. 
These birds also eall out, while flying high 
in the air, and they produce a sound like 
“*Gwa, wa, wa,’ which is considered by 
some as an indication of the near approach 
of rainy weather; but whether this opinion 
has any foundation in facts, we will not 
undertake to determine. ‘The cuckoo feeds 
on insects and their larvee; by choice, how- 
ever, on hairy caterpillars in all stages, cock- 
chafers, grasshoppers, butterflies, and moths. 
And, like the hawks and owls, the cuckoo 
casts up the indigestible parts of its food in 
the usual form of pellets. 
How the female cuckoo manages to deposit 
her egg in the nest of another bird, has not 
been satisfactorily described ; so much, how- 
ever, is known—that the female goes singly 
about this business, without her mate being 
near. Whether this is for the purpose of 
watching her opportunity, or for going more 
stealthily about her designs, is still an un- 
answered question. The number of eggs 
deposited by the cuckoo during the season 
varies from four to six; but these are laid at 
such distant intervals, that some may be 
found in May, and others as late as July. It 
is insisted on, by some persons, that the 
cuckoo sucks the eggs of other birds; and 
to strengthen this assertion, they state that 
they shot a cuckoo that was actually in the 
act of carrying off an egg. The most probable 
explanation of this is, that the female cuckoo 
was carrying her own egg, which she had 
laid on the ground, to the nest of some other 
bird; and, although no one has hitherto been 
able to detect the whole of the proceedings 
of the cuckoo, it is possibly by these means 
that her egg is smuggled into the warbler’s 
nest. 
The egg of the cuckoo is very small in 
comparison with other birds of its size; but 
the reason for this is obvious, and it must be 
considered as a beautiful provision of Nature. 
* Both the male and female utter the cry of 
'“ Cuckoo! Cuckoo!” 

