hop. At times it was impatient of confinement, and evinced an anxiety to escape from its cage, but was 
not at all afraid of any one it was accustomed to. Being let out into a room on the l7th, It endeavoured 
to get through the glass of the window. About the middle of August it would peck at a caterpillar, and 
seemed particularly partial to the larvae of the Buff-tipped Moth (JI. hucephald), which it generally passed 
through the bill, holding them by the extremities and shaking before eating them. In the third week of 
September it became very i-estless in the early part of the night, and occasionally, when it was moonlight, 
endeavoured to get through the window. On the 29th of October it was still restless, but continued to be 
fed by hand. On several evenings about the middle of November, during candle-light, it would flap its 
wings and fall or flutter off its perch, occasionally uttering cue. It became much more contented about the 
23rd of November, and tbe migratory instinct seemed to be succeeded by extreme voracity : its plumage 
now much resembled that of the AVoodcock. On the 28th, between nine and ten o’clock, it again became 
restless. On the 3rd of December It was quite quiet. About the 25th of January, 1859, it began to moult, 
and was still restless at times during the early part of the night, as it had been more or less ever since it 
was able to fly. On the 7th of February it pecked at aud ate some small pieces of meat aud yelk of 
egg. In the beginning of tbe second week of this month, some of the fibrous ends of the new feathers 
were exposed. During candle-light of the evening of the 12th, it uttered a loud shrill noise resembling 
the laughing-note of the Green Woodpecker ; by tbe middle of the month it became much less restless ; 
some of the new feathers appeared on the back, and it generally fed itself by taking meat with egg, or meat 
alone, from my hand or the bars of the cage, sometimes descending to the bottom to pick up pieces that 
had fallen. By the end of the second week in Maixh, much of the new plumage appeared on its back and 
breast ; but many old feathers still remained on the wing, at the hack of the head, and on the upper part of 
the breast. Black beetles {Blattce^, to which it evinced a decided partiality, and meat with egg now 
constituted its chief food. It was still restless at times, and on the 16th of April made a loud noise. On 
the 28th I gave It a dead mouse, which it appeared to regard as an edible article, for it took it in its bill 
and shook it several times. On my taking it to pieces, it ate some of the skin, fur, bones, and flesb. It 
had not yet changed all Its wing-feathers. On the 15th of May it called ‘ Cuckoo.’ On the 28th of July 
it was observed to drink for the first time. Unfortunately I did not record the date of my bird’s death ; but 
it was alive on the 28th of J uly ; I therefore kept it for more than twelve months. It was tame with those 
to whom it was accustomed, but became pugnacious when teased with the finger, and would occasionally 
peck at it with raised wings and the utterance of a loud noise. It would sometimes plume its feathers, and 
was fond of being placed in the sunshine, when it would droop its wings and appear to greatly enjoy the 
heat. It was v^ery capricious with regard to its food, sometimes eating much raw meat and many black 
beetles, of which it would devour several in succession, while at others it would eat very little ; after eating, 
it woidd often wipe its bill. If the top of its cage were uncovered, it would occasionally fly upwards and 
cling to the band of osiers running across between the dome of the cage and the part whence It sprang, and 
then fall to the bottom. It had a very curious habit of snapping its bill and shaking its head when I spoke 
to it ; but this was not invariably done. When a cat or any unusual object attracted its attention, it would 
stretch out its neck, depress the tail-feathers, and anxiously watch the object, I never observed it cast up 
any portion of what it had eaten, in the manner of Hawks and Owls, not even the fur of the mouse mentioned 
above. For months it was never seen to drink, but was sometimes given water from the finger or stick ; 
and the paste of egg and meat, or bread and egg, had usually water put with It. It was a male bird, and 
had two white spots on the head before its first moidt.” 
The food of the Cuckoo consists of insects of various kinds, particularly in their larva or caterpillar state ; 
for these it searches the lofty branches of the trees, over which it climbs and clings like a Parrot ; it also 
descends to the grassy meads for moths, grasshoppers, and Coleoptera. 
The sexes of the Cuckoo, when fully adult, are very similar ; sometimes, however, the female is more or 
less diversified with brown. The young bird, during tbe first autumn, resembles the Woodcock in its general 
colouring ; but in some instances the ground-colour is white, as in the adult. When about three parts 
fledged, it is a squat object, with a short stumpy tail, the feathers of which are about an inch in length, and 
tipped with snow-white ; those of the head and body are dark blackish grey, with crescentic markings of 
greyish white at the tips of the feathers ; in some instances the breast and under surface are white, barred 
with blackish grey, as in the adult ; there are no brown markings except on the scapularies ; the eye is deep- 
sunken, and of a blackish-brown hue, with a narrow dark olive-coloured lash ; the bill and the round 
swollen nostrils mealy olive ; corners of the mouth narrowly edged with orange, inside of the mouth bright 
fiery orange ; legs and toes delicate fleshy white. 
Cuckoos are occasionally found In Europe in spring, still wearing the livery of the nestling. This has 
caused several naturalists to fall into the error of supposing they were another species. 
The Plate represents a male, drawn from life, of the natural size, and a young hird of the first autumn, 
being fed by a Wagtail. These latter figures are drawn from stuffed specimens, obligingly lent to me by 
J. G. Barclay, Esq., and which were mounted in commemoration of the incident. 
