The COMMON CUCKOO (_Cuculus canorus_) represents a group possessing a
slender body, a small, weak, slightly-curved beak, long, pointed wings,
a long, rounded tail, short, partially-feathered feet, and plumage of a
sombre hue. The male is deep ash-grey, or greyish blue, on the mantle, and
greyish white, marked with black, on the under side; the neck, cheeks,
throat, and the sides of the neck, as far down as the breast, are pure
ash-grey; the quills of the wings leaden black, and those of the tail
black, spotted with white. The eye is of a bright yellow; the beak black,
but yellowish towards its base; and the foot yellow. The female resembles
the male, but has scarcely perceptible reddish stripes on the back and
under side of the neck. The length of the male is fourteen inches; breadth
twenty-four and a half; length of wing, nine inches; length of tail, seven
and three-quarter inches. The female is about an inch shorter.
This Cuckoo frequents almost every part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and
breeds in all northern portions of the Eastern Hemisphere; it only visits
India, China, Java, the Sundainu Islands, and South-western Africa in the
course of its migrations. In England it usually appears about the middle
of April.
The Common Cuckoo may be regarded as the most flighty, restless, and
lively member of this sprightly family; from morning till night he is
constantly on the move, and is as hungry as he is active and clamorous.
His flight is light, elegant, somewhat resembling that of a Falcon; but no
sooner has his journey come to an end, than he alights on a thick branch
of the nearest tree, and at once begins to look about him in search of
food. Should an attractive morsel be in sight, he swoops upon it in an
instant, and having caught and devoured it, by a stroke or two of his
powerful wings he again returns to the branch he has just quitted, or
else flies off to a neighbouring tree, immediately to repeat the same
performance. It is, however, only in his powers of flight that the Cuckoo
is eminently gifted; he walks upon the ground with difficulty, and is
quite unable to climb. In spring-time he is indefatigable in making heard
his well-known notes, "Cuckoo, cuckoo," which occasionally he will change
to a softly-uttered "Quawawa," or "Haghaghaghag," while the voice of the
female somewhat resembles a peculiar laugh or gentle twitter, but poorly
represented by the syllables "Kwikwikwik." It was well-known, even to
ancient writers, that the female Cuckoo, instead of building a nest for
the reception of her progeny, lays her eggs in the nests of other birds,
to whom she altogether entrusts the rearing of her young ones.
"The Cuckoo," says Aristotle, "deputes the incubation of her eggs and the
nurture of the young ones to which they give birth to the bird in whose
nest the eggs happen to be laid. The foster-father, as we are told, throws
his own offspring out of their nest and leaves them to die of hunger,
while he devotes himself entirely to providing for the young Cuckoo.
Others say that he kills his own nestlings to feed the young intruder with
their bodies, the young Cuckoo being so beautiful that even the mother
who owns the nest despises and sacrifices her own brood on his behalf.
Narrators, however, are not quite agreed as to who is the real destroyer
of the young birds; some say that it is the old Cuckoo who comes back
again to eat the little family of the too hospitable pair, while others
assert that it is the young Cuckoo who casts out of the nest all his
foster brothers and sisters, leaving them to die of starvation, while
others again declare that the young Cuckoo, being the strongest, kills and
devours all the rest."
"In thus providing for his children," continues Aristotle, "the Cuckoo
does quite right, for he knows what a coward he is, and that he would
never be able to defend them; indeed, so cowardly is he that all the
little birds amuse themselves by pinching and pecking at him."
It will be at once evident that in the above account of the habits of the
Cuckoo there is a great deal of truth, although much that is surmised
is devoid of foundation. The main facts that have been established by
trustworthy observation relative to the breeding of the Cuckoo are
in themselves sufficiently curious, and have no need of fictitious
circumstances to make them interesting. They may be briefly stated as
follows:--The female Cuckoo undoubtedly deposits her eggs in the nest of
some other bird, not of any particular species, but of several; indeed,
upwards of fifty have been enumerated as entitled to the honour of rearing
the young Cuckoos. Secondly, it has been observed that the eggs of the
Cuckoo differ remarkably from each other; indeed, more so than is the case
in any other known species; and, moreover, that a Cuckoo's egg taken from
the nest in which it has been placed is found strikingly to resemble the
eggs laid by the owner of the nest. Thirdly, the Cuckoo only lays a single
egg in the selected spot, and this is invariably deposited in a nest
already containing eggs belonging to its proper owner.
The behaviour of the females while thus employed in laying their eggs
is peculiar. No sooner do these birds arrive in the early spring than
the males begin to make the woods resound with their well-known call,
where they are soon joined by their mates, of whose coyness under the
circumstances they can have little cause for complaint, and as soon as the
female has an egg ready for laying, away she flies in search of a nest in
which to deposit her burden. On these expeditions she is not accompanied
by the male Cuckoo, with whose company, indeed, she seems by no means
desirous of being troubled. Her search after a suitable nest is always
made on the wing, and her cleverness in finding the object of her journey,
however well it may seem to be hidden from observation, is at least
remarkable. Quite contrary to her usual shyness, at such times she will
unhesitatingly approach quite close to human habitations, and even enter
buildings, such as barns and outhouses. If the shape and situation of the
discovered nest is such as to allow her to do so, she places herself upon
it and lays an egg, but if such is not the case she lays her egg upon the
ground, and then taking it in her beak drops it into the nest. Sometimes
it happens that she has considerable difficulty in introducing her egg
into the nest, owing to the smallness of the aperture, and occasionally
the bird has been captured during her endeavours to overcome the
difficulty. Sometimes it has happened that two Cuckoos' eggs, of different
colours, have been found in the same nest.
[Illustration: THE CUCKOO (_Cuculus canorus_).]
"It is wonderful to observe," says Bechstein, "what great apparent delight
the birds show when they see a female Cuckoo approach their abode. Instead
of leaving their eggs, as they do when disturbed by the approach of other
animals, they seem quite beside themselves for joy. The little Wren, for
example, when brooding over its own eggs, immediately quits its nest on
the approach of the Cuckoo, as though to make room to enable her to
lay her egg more commodiously. Meanwhile she hops round her with such
expressions of delight that her husband at length joins her, and both seem
lavish in their thanks for the honour which the great bird confers upon
them by selecting their nest for its own use."
Although the above extract sounds very well, with all deference to Herr
Bechstein, we are compelled to say that it is unfortunately not true.
All the birds that we have seen who have had the very doubtful honour
of having a Cuckoo's egg palmed upon them as their own, have seemed to
testify in a striking manner their anguish at the threatened occurrence
and their unmistakable desire to drive the Cuckoo away. So far from coming
as a welcome visitor, the mother Cuckoo comes like a thief in the night;
and no sooner has she laid her egg than she hastily takes her departure,
as if quite conscious of the unfriendly character of her visit. However
this may be, there is no doubt that the foster-parents brood over the
Cuckoo's egg with the same assiduity as over their own; and it is only
when the eggs of both are hatched that the real character of the intruder
begins to show itself, doubtless to the great terror and dismay of the
proper owners of the nest.
[Illustration: THE JAY CUCKOO (_Coccystes glandarius_).]
"Two Cuckoos and a Hedge Sparrow," writes Dr. Jenner, "were hatched in
the same nest this morning. In a few hours after, a combat began between
the Cuckoos for the possession of the nest, which continued undetermined
until the next afternoon, when one of them, which was somewhat superior
in size, turned out the other, together with the young Hedge Sparrow
and an unhatched egg. This contest was very remarkable. The combatants
alternately appeared to have the advantage, as each carried the other
several times to the top of the nest, and then sank down again, oppressed
by the weight of its burden, till at length, after various efforts, the
strongest prevailed, and was afterwards brought up by the pair of Hedge
Sparrows."
"It is wonderful," continues Dr. Jenner, "to see the extraordinary
exertions of the young Cuckoo when it is two or three days old, if a bird
be put into the nest with it that is too weighty for it to lift out. In
this state it seems ever restless and uneasy; but this disposition for
throwing out its companions seems to decline from that time till it is
about twelve days old, when, as far as I have seen, it ceases entirely.
Indeed, the disposition for throwing out eggs appears to cease a few
days sooner, for I have frequently seen the young Cuckoo, after it had
been hatched nine or ten days, remove a nestling that had been placed in
the nest with it, while it suffered an egg, put there at the same time,
to remain unmolested. The singularity of its shape is well adapted to
these purposes, for, unlike other newly-hatched birds, its back, from the
shoulders downwards, is very broad, with a considerable depression in the
middle. This depression seems formed by Nature for the design of giving
a more secure lodgment to an egg or a young bird, when the Cuckoo is
employed in removing either of them from the nest. When it is twelve days
old, this cavity is quite filled up, and then the back assumes the shape
of nestling birds in general."
* * * * *
The JAY CUCKOOS (_Coccystes_) are recognisable by their elongate
body; thick, broad, curved beak, which is compressed at its sides and
almost equals the head in length; strong and comparatively long and
partially-feathered feet; moderate-sized wing, in which the fourth quill
is the longest; and long, conical tail, composed of narrow feathers, the
outermost of which are only half the length of those in the centre. The
smooth plumage takes the form of a crest upon the head, and is similarly
coloured in both sexes. This group is almost peculiar to the African
continent.