The Cuckoos are about the size of a Turtle Dove. They have beaks about
as long as the head, slightly curved and compressed, and rather long and
rounded tails, and long pointed wings. There are several kinds of Birds
belonging to this group, some of which differ from the Cuckoos proper,
in having short wings and long tapering tails. Among these are found the
Trogons, Honey-guides, Anis or Annos, Barbets and the Touracos or
Plantain-eaters. These different species belong to all the countries of
the old continent.
Only one species is found in Europe—the Grey, or European Cuckoo. These
are migratory Birds; they pass the warm season in Europe, and the winter
in Africa, or in the warm parts of Asia.
Cuckoos are celebrated for the peculiar manner in which they raise their
young. They do not build a nest, nor cover their eggs, neither do they
take care of their young. They place their eggs in the nests of other
Birds, such as the Lark, the Robin, the Hedge Sparrow, the Thrush,
Blackbird, etc. They leave the care of hatching their eggs, and even the
care of the young Birds to these strangers. Cuckoos lay eight to ten
eggs in the space of a few weeks. When an egg has been laid the Bird
picks it up in her beak, and carries it to the first unoccupied nest
that she can find, and there deposits it when the owner of the nest is
away. The next egg is placed in a neighboring nest, but never in the
same as the first. The mother shows great intelligence in this, for by
placing two eggs in the same nest of a smaller Bird, the greater size of
her little ones would crowd the space intended by the builder, for
smaller Birds of her own. And two Robins or Hedge-sparrows would be kept
very busy feeding such great hungry Birds as would hatch from the
Cuckoo’s eggs.
Another way in which the Mother Cuckoo shows her intelligence is her
plan of breaking an egg in the nest in which hers is to be placed. If
she finds one or more eggs in the nest, after she has placed hers in
position she will take one of the others out, break it with her beak and
scatter the shell, so that when the other Bird returns to her nest she
will find the same number of eggs that she left. The Cuckoo has often
been considered a very mean Bird, and a hard-hearted mother, because of
this practice of imposing on other Birds, yet Naturalists excuse them by
explaining that as the Cuckoo lays her eggs at considerable intervals
she would find that she could not cover them and raise a family at the
same time, for while some were hatching and the young Birds requiring
constant attention, the other eggs would require her sitting upon them
and keeping them warm for hatching later; so perhaps after all, the
poor, misjudged Bird is simply following instinct without any thought of
meanness.