THE CUCKOO 



each female always produces eggs of the same type. These may be greenish- or 

 reddish-grey, with close specklings of darker shades, or occasionally pale blue, and 

 sometimes, but not always, resemble the colour of the foster-parent's eggs. Not 

 long after being hatched, the young Cuckoo contrives to hoist its fellow-nestlings 

 on to its back, which for the first twelve days or so has a convenient hollow, 

 and with more or less violent efforts heaves them one by one over the edge of 

 the nest. 



The familiar song of the Cuckoo need not be described, but I have never come 

 across any account of the curious fact that it appears to be uttered with the bill 

 closed, as when a pigeon coos. My attention was first drawn to this by the late 

 J. Wolf many years ago, and I have since had opportunities of verifying it. The 

 sketch of the adult bird in the plate was taken from life with the aid of a field- 

 glass, and shows the attitude assumed when the notes are given. The bird sits 

 in a more or less horizontal position, with wings drooped below the tail, which is 

 spread and slightly raised, while a swaying motion is given to the body and the 

 throat is puffed out. 



The female does not usually differ from the male in colour, but occasionally 

 is tinged with rufous on the breast ; it appears always to be less numerous than the 

 other sex, and leads a wandering life. She has not the loud " plain song " of her 

 mate, but utters a kind of note, which Seebohm compares to the sound of bubbling 

 water. 



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