CUCULIDAE—CUCKOO.
153
Family CUCULIDAE.
Cuckoo : Cuculus canorus.
A common and very familiar summer visitant, arriving about the
middle of April, or a little earlier, and leaves again late in August,
though young birds often
remain until much later.
For instance, about the
middle of October, 1877,
a young bird was sent to
Mr. Scruby of Ongar for
preservation, and another
was killed at the Swin
Middle Lightship on Nov.
a6th, 1885 (42).
Mr. John Smith, of Brent-
wood, possesses a specimen,
killed at Upminster Common
in June, 1885, which he des-
cribes as being an adult female
in brown plumage, the colour
and markings on the upper
parts being exactly similar to
those on the hen Kestrel, while
the under-parts resemble those
of a young Cuckoo. In the Museum at Saffron Walden is a specimen which Mr.
Gurney describes as "the most beautiful specimen of a young Cuckoo he ever
saw." Mr. Smoothy has one shot by himself in Mann Wood, Ashdon, in May,
1850, which has the reddish back and tail of the young bird, while the breast is
barred like that of the adult. It is a female, as an egg fell from it when shot.