THE CUCKOO. 
363 
others were to be had. Every caterpillar was viscerated by the 
bird previous to being swallowed, as were the mice also when 
young enough for this process : the latter were always swallowed 
head foremost, and for a considerable time afterwards, their tails 
appeared dangling from the cuckoo's bill. When the season was 
too far advanced for caterpillars to be procured, this bird was fed 
on raw flesh-meat, and seemed to gain much strength in conse- 
quence : with this, and hard-boiled eggs, it was supplied throughout 
the winter. It never consumed less in a day than a couple of 
eggs, in addition to a little of some other food. It is described 
as having been apparently deficient in the power of picking up 
little fragments of anything, as bits of egg, &c. To the last, it 
gaped to be fed with all but caterpillars, — its natural food. Being 
remarkably sharp-sighted, it would perceive from the opposite 
side of the room, if a caterpillar had escaped, and with the utmost 
rapidity dart at and seize the prey. This bird was, from its note, 
presumed to be a female : it was originally taken from a titlark's 
nest. Montagu, in the supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary, 
gives so full and interesting an account of a cuckoo which he 
kept, that a portion of the above is but a counterpart of his nar- 
rative. It seemed to me, however, that all particulars respecting 
Mr. Templeton's bird, were well worthy of being recorded. 
In Holland, I have heard the call of the cuckoo, in the king's 
park at the Hague, towards the end of May, and in Switzerland, 
late in June. Its well-known cry was most gratifying to my 
ear, when (on the 16 th of May) riding over the bare wild hills and 
through the forest between Constantinople and the picturesque 
village of Belgrade, — once the residence of Lady Mary Wortley 
Montagu. In the vicinity of Navarino, on the 28 th of April, 
a small flock of seven or eight birds, which were believed to be 
cuckoos, flew near to me, proceeding in a northerly direction, but 
the call was wanting to prove the species. This bird occasionally 
utters the note “ cu-cu " sharply several times successively, which 
I have particularly remarked when two or three are in company. 
