. Hand-book to the birds of Great Britain . black, light yellow at thebase of the lower mandible ; feet yellow; iris yellow. Totallength, 14 inches ; culmen, 0-9 ; wing, 8-9 ; tail, 7*0; tarsus, o*8. Adult Female.—Similar to the male, but a trifle smaller, anddistinguished by the rufous shade on the fore-neck. Totallength, 12*5 inches; wing, 83. Young.—Very different from the adults. Dark brown orashy-brown, barred with rufous, and with a white edging tothe feathers, producing a strongly mottled appearance ; on theback of the neck a white spot; under surface of body buffy-white, barred with bl
. Hand-book to the birds of Great Britain . black, light yellow at thebase of the lower mandible ; feet yellow; iris yellow. Totallength, 14 inches ; culmen, 0-9 ; wing, 8-9 ; tail, 7*0; tarsus, o*8. Adult Female.—Similar to the male, but a trifle smaller, anddistinguished by the rufous shade on the fore-neck. Totallength, 12*5 inches; wing, 83. Young.—Very different from the adults. Dark brown orashy-brown, barred with rufous, and with a white edging tothe feathers, producing a strongly mottled appearance ; on theback of the neck a white spot; under surface of body buffy-white, barred with blackish-brown, more broadly on the throat;tail barred with rufous. There is also a rufous or hepatic phase of plumage in theCuckoo, w4iich appears to be confined to the young birds this plumage the general aspect of the bird is tawny-rufousor cinnamon, barred with blackish, the bars less distinct orforming only spots on the rump and upper tail-coverts; tail-feathers rufous, tipped with white, before which is a sub- PLATE CUCKOO. THE CUCKOO. 25 terminal black band, the feathers being irregularly barred withblackish ; under surface of body buffy-white, barred with black,the buff colour deeper on the throat. By some naturalists it issupposed that this hepatic stage lasts throughout the birdslife, but I have seen specimens moulting from it into the greyplumage of the fully adult bird. Range in Great Britain.—A summer visitor, arriving in April,somewhat irregularly in some years, when the seasons are back-ward, and leaving about the end of July. The young birds,however, are later in their departure, and are sometimes seenas late as the middle of September. The males come a fewdays before the females, and greatly out-number the latter. Itvisits every portion of the British Islands, and even the out-lying isles. Range outside the British Islands.—The Cuckoo has been knownto visit the Faeroe Islands, and is found nearly everywherethroughout Europe and Northern A
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidhandbooktobi, bookyear1894
