So far as we were able to ascertain from dissection 

 the diet of these birds consists entirely of large insects — 

 locusts, grasshoppers, dragontiies, beetles, and moths, in 

 every stage of their development. This Cuckoo is not 

 able to support captivity (in our English climate at 

 least) for any length of time. I never observed the 

 Great Spotted Cuckoo taking or attempting to take 

 insects on the wing ; but on the ground it is, for a 

 Cuckoo, remarkably agile and rapid in movement. The 

 nests in which we found the eggs of this bird were 

 generally at a considerable height from the ground ; in 

 the few exceptions to this rule that came under my 

 own observation the nest was situated in a dense thorn- 

 thicket, and could not be got at without a considerable 

 amount of work with the bill-hook. The Spanish 

 country-folk eat this Cuckoo, and declare it to be good 

 food ; but in this matter I went no further than sucking 

 the contents of a few of its freshly-laid eggs through a 

 blowpipe. 



