Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/226

Rh moths; before swallowing them, the Cuckoo is said to cut off the hinder extremity of the body with its beak, and by repeated jerks to free the insect from the intestinal canal. The note is loud, and uttered frequently in a lengthened and melancholy manner, especially early in the morning, and at the approach of evening; sometimes it is emitted even in the night.

The most remarkable circumstance in the economy of this genus,—and one which, as far as is yet known, is common to the whole of its numerous and widely-spread species,—is that the female makes no nest for its own economy, but deposits its eggs in the nests of small birds, always selecting such as are insectivorous, and for the most part such as belong to the Dentirostral tribe. The whole care of "hatching and rearing the young, is now left to the foster-parent; and as the wants of so large an intruder, additional to those of their own offspring, would be more than the efforts of the selected nurses could supply, an instinct is implanted in the young Cuckoo, by which, even from the very day of its birth, it is impelled to eject from the nest the rightful tenants of it. This, in the case of our well-known Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus, .),–whose habits are better known than those of others,—is effected by the newly-hatched Cuckoo insinuating the hinder part of its body under the young of the foster-parent, and raising it upon its loins, which are remarkably broad, and even hollowed, when, lifting it to the rim of the nest, it deliberately throws it overboard; nor does it cease until it finds itself the sole occupant of the nest, and the sole recipient of the attentions of