The Cuckoo. 



397 



caterpillars, and display a considerable amount of rapacity 

 when these are given to them. 



Eeaeing the Young. — Secure at the age of eight or ten 

 days, and feed with scraped raw beef and bread sop, alter- 

 nated with pieces of boiled pigs' liver, earthworms, and 

 bread and milk. The Cuckoo has an immoderate appetite, 

 difficult to appease ; care, however, must be taken not to 

 gorge the nestlings. When a month old, give a few flies, 

 small worms, and caterpillars. These birds are some time 

 before they are able to feed themselves ; they grow rather 

 slowly, and require much attention. 



Distinguishing Marks of Cock and Hen. — The female is 

 smaller than the male ; the neck is reddish brown at the 

 back, and yellowish brown in front, and streaked trans- 

 versely with dark brown ; the upper part of the body is 

 grey, spotted with dingy brown ; the abdomen is dirty greyish 

 white, striped with brown. The tail is barred with reddish 

 brown and black, and there are white spots on each side of 

 the shaft. 



Song, — The voice of the Cuckoo is familiar to all, and its 

 joyous cry well known ; although it may not be correctly 

 described as a song, we are assured by Mr. L. Bowles 

 that, as a musician, the Cuckoo is the most scientific 

 performer among the feathered tribes, the notes being **the 

 fifth and third of the diatonic scale," and consequently in 

 strict accordance with musical numbers. 



Points to be Observed in Judging. — The exhibit should 

 be clean, and free from broken feathers — two difficult points 

 to obtain in these birds — in good condition, and so far 

 domesticated as to permit of its being examined without 

 its performing a series of evolutions around the cage. 



General Eemarks. — The Cuckoo is interesting, not only 

 to ornithologists, but to all lovers of birds, on account of its 

 rarity and the singular habit it has of not nesting or in- 

 cubating like other birds. When kept in captivity, it should 

 not be placed in an aviary with other species, as it possesses 

 a vicious and unsocial disposition, but placed by itself in a 

 spacious cage with a perch placed crosswise, and not too 

 far from the bottom ; the perch should be thickest in the 

 centre, and taper gradually towards each end. The cage 

 should be cleaned out every alternate day at least, and the 



