more than a year at Cranmore, near Belfast, the residence of that well-known naturalist, John Templeton, Esq. But it will suffice to give the particulars respecting another, kept for a longer period, at the same place, and of which the following account, greatly exceeding in interest any I have read, appears in the MS. journal of Mr. Templeton :- A "January 10th, 1822.-Last night the cuckoo which Egot on the 26th of July, 1820, died in consequence of C—— having hurt it with her foot on Tuesday last [8th]. Thus ended the days of this innocent little bird, whose engaging manners were the delight of the whole family and the admiration of strangers. It was fed generally on hard boiled eggs, and occasionally with caterpillars: it would sometimes eat forty or fifty at a time of those of the Papilio brassica; it, however, showed a decided preference for rough ones, as those of the Papilio urtica. seeming treat was a little mouse, about one quarter grown, which it would hold in its bill and beat against the ground, or anything hard, until the animal became soft, when it exhibited great powers of extending its throat and swallowing. What, however, was most extraordinary, it was never known to take a drink; though when presented with a drop of water at the end of a finger or straw, it would sip it, and seemed to delight, when seated on its mistress's or other person's hand, to put its bill to their mouths and sip saliva. It delighted very much in heat, and sitting in the sunshine; and as its feathers were so much broken by its striking confinement, it uttered, when in want of food, a note so closely resembling that of the titlark, that it would have been almost impossible to distinguish between them. By degrees, however, its voice became more harsh, and latterly its only call has been a discordant one, uttered in the evening, and but once daily. This is very like the bark of a dog, repeated four or five times in quick succession. Whether all young cuckoos have, in the first instance, the same note, or whether they acquire, for a time, that of the foster parents, (whatever it may happen to be,) I have been unable to ascertain; but the present case seems to support the latter supposition. For some weeks the cuckoo's food (consisting of the yelk of hard boiled eggs, worms, or chopped fleshmeat,) was placed in its beak, but it has learned to feed out of a cup placed in the cage. The worms are invariably passed several times through its bill in the peculiar manner described by Montagu previous to being swallowed. It prefers caterpillars in the season to any other species of food, and seldom swallows anything without bruising it for some time in its beak. No fluid of any kind has been given to this bird. The irides are hazel, not blue, as stated by Bewick in reference to the young of this species." A few hours after the preceding was written, the subject of it was found dead in its cage. them against the furniture that it could fly but very imperfectly, it was apparently very thankful to any person who would help it up on the first sash of the window. At other times it sat upon the fender, turning itself in various directions, and spreading its wings and feathers to receive the heat, of which it could bear a temperature equal to 100 degrees for a considerable time with seeming satisfaction. During cold weather it slept at its mistress's bed-side, covered with a piece of flannel, which was well warmed previous to its going to rest. With this attention, it generally remained quiescent until morning; but on feeling cold, sometimes presumed so far as to creep under the bed-clothes. It was only to those from whom it had received some hurt or persecution, that it expressed dislike or fear, which it manifested by raising its neckfeathers and putting itself into an attitude of defence. It never uttered the cry of the male-'cuckoo'—but sometimes, when persons in the room were laughing, it would apparently join, and emit a noise somewhat like the barking of a little dog. At all other times the only sound it made was a kind of low chattering, expressive of pleasure, when it got into a warm place, or on seeing its mistress after she had been absent for some hours. It received the unlucky tramp, which finally killed it, by having lost too much the apprehension of injury." From Miss Templeton, I have learned the following particulars respecting this cuckoo :--It moulted only a few feathers the first year about Christmas; the following year, about the same period, moulting commenced, and the bird became so unwell, that its life was considered to be in danger. Some of the adult plumage was then exhibited, but before there was time for this to be perfected, the poor bird met with its accidental death. This cuckoo was never subjected to the confinement of the cage, but was kept in the parlour through the day, and taken to its mistress's bed-room at night. Its favourite food was a hairy species of caterpillar found upon the oak, that being better liked than the hispid one of the nettle butterfly; but it would eat voraciously of either of these, consuming fully three times as many, as of the smooth caterpillar of the cabbage:--this was wholly rejected when the others were to be had. Every caterpillar was viscerated by the bird previous to being swallowed, as were the mice also when young enough for this process: the latter were always swallowed head foremost, and for a considerable time afterwards, their tails appeared dangling from the cuckoo's bill. When the season was too far advanced for caterpillars to be procured, this bird was fed on raw flesh-meat, and seemed to gain much strength in consequence with this, and hard-boiled eggs, it was supplied throughout the winter. It never consumed less in a day than a couple of eggs, in addition to a little of some other food. It is described as having been apparently deficient in the power of picking up little fragments of anything, as bits of egg, &c. To the last, it gaped to be fed with all but caterpillars,-its natural food. Being remarkably sharp-sighted, it would perceive from the opposite side of the room, if a caterpillar had escaped, and with the utmost rapidity dart at and seize the prey. This bird was, from its note, presumed to be a female: it was originally taken from a titlark's nest. Montagu, in the supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary, gives so full and interesting an account of a cuckoo which he kept, that a portion of the above is but a counterpart of his narrative. It seemed to me, however, that all particulars respecting Mr. Templeton's bird, were well worthy of being recorded. In Holland, I have heard the call of the cuckoo, in the king's park at the Hague, towards the end of May, and in Switzerland, late in June. Its well-known cry was most gratifying to my ear, when (on the 16th of May) riding over the bare wild hills and through the forest between Constantinople and the picturesque village of Belgrade,-once the residence of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. In the vicinity of Navarino, on the 28th of April, a small flock of seven or eight birds, which were believed to be cuckoos, flew near to me, proceeding in a northerly direction, but the call was wanting to prove the species. This bird occasionally utters the note "cu-cu" sharply several times successively, which I have particularly remarked when two or three are in company. THE GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO. Cuculus glandarius, Linn. Has once been obtained. A LETTER from A. Crighton, Esq., of Clifden, Connemara, to Mr. R. Ball, gives the following information respecting it : "The cuckoo, pursued by hawks, was taken by two persons, walking on the island of Omagh. It flew into a hole in a stone fence or wall, was caught alive, and lived for four days on potatoes and water. The inhabitants of this country had never seen any bird like it before, and as they are constantly in the habit of fishing at Bofin and Arran Islands, if the bird were to be met with, no doubt they would have recognised it. The bird when chased by the hawks, appeared fatigued, weak, and emaciated, as though it had taken a long flight, as woodcocks and other birds of passage do on first arrival." The month of March, 1842, is said to have been the time of its capture. On being sent to Dublin to be preserved, an excellent coloured drawing of it, the size of life, was kindly made by Miss Battersby, and forwarded for my acceptance: the plumage represented agrees best with that of the adult bird, as described by Temminck. The specimen has subsequently been obtained by Mr. Ball for the museum of Trinity College, Dublin. It is the only one known to have visited the British Islands. According to Temminck (part 3, p. 277), the northern parts of Africa seem to be the chief abode of this bird, which occasionally visits southern Europe-Spain, France (south of), Italy, &c. In Germany also, it has been met with in different instances. "Mr. Gould, in his well-known work on the Birds of Europe, says, that the true habitat of this species is the wooded districts, skirting the sultry plains of North Africa, but those that pass the Mediterranean, find a congenial climate in Spain and Italy. Opportunities are still wanting to confirm the most interesting of its habits." * * Yarrell, British Birds, vol. ii. p. 202. (2nd edit.) Has twice been procured in Ireland. THE first notice of the occurrence of this species in the British Islands, and indeed in the Eastern hemisphere, is due to Mr. R. Ball of Dublin, who contributed a note upon the subject to the first number of the Field Naturalist's Magazine. He states, that when at Youghal (co. Cork) in 1825, the butler of a neighbouring gentleman brought him a specimen of this bird a few minutes. after its being shot, and when still warm and bleeding. In the same communication, dated from Dublin Castle, October 20th, 1832, a second example is mentioned as having been recently killed near Bray, a few miles from Dublin. About the same period ("autumn, 1832") one was shot on the estate of Lord Cawdor, in Wales. Mr. Yarrell received a communication respecting the occurrence of another in Cornwall, but no date is given. (Br. Birds, vol. ii. p. 190.) These are, I believe, all the recorded instances of the species having been met with in the British Islands. Foreign ornithological works published down to 1845, do not contain any notice of its occurrence on the European continent. The specimen obtained near Bray was shown to me by Mr. Glennon, bird-preserver, Dublin, and I agree with Mr. Ball in considering it identical in species with his own. This was entrusted to me when about to visit London in the spring of 1835, and on comparing it with the specimen presented by Lord Cawdor to the British Museum, I found them to be of the same species. Before leaving home, I had purchased in Belfast a yellowbilled American cuckoo from a person who shot it at Long Island (United States), and at a meeting of the Zoological Society * See Temminck's Manuel, part 3, p. 277, for remarks both on the generic and specific names. |