NATURAL niSTORT. 
137 
]y ftripccl with tawny colour and tranf- 
parcnt black ; the legs are very fliort, cloth- 
ed with feathers down to the feet ; and 
• it has a large mouth, the infide of which is 
yellowid). 
This bird is the harbinger of fpring at 
which time it returns, to glad the hulband- 
man with irs wonted note, as a lignal that 
nature now refumes her vernal beauties. The 
note, which is a call to love, is ufed only by 
the male, and continues no longer than the 
pairing feafon. 
The young are generally nurfed by a wa- 
ter-wagtail or hedge-fparrow, their parents 
always unnaturally deferting them. 
The note of the cuckoo is pleafant though 
uniform ; and owes its power of pleading to 
that alfociation of ideas wliich frequently 
render things agreeable, that would, other- 
wife, not be fo in themfclves. Were wc to 
hear the cuckoo on the approach of winter, 
we fliould think it a molt lamentable noife ; 
1 but, hearing it as wc do, at the approach of 
fpring, wc cannot avoid thinking it the molt 
agreeable, from its being attached to all 
thofc enjoyments, with which w'e know na- 
ture is then teeming for our accommoda- 
tion. 
It is about fourteen inches in length, twen- 
ty-five in breadth, and weighs five ounces,, 
, little more or lefs. 
M 2 
BIRDS. 
