. A history of British birds . CUCKOW. PICA RLE. CucuLus CANORUs, LinnaBus*. THE CUCKOW. Cucnhis canorus. CucuLUS, Liniueus].—Bill short and subcylindrical, culmen somewhat de-curved, upper mandible slightly notched near the tip ; lower mandible nearlystraight beneath ; gape wide. Nostrils basal, circular, with a prominent mem-branaceous rim. Wings with ten primaries, the first short, the third longest,the innermost three shorter than the first. Tail of ten feathers, the outer threepairs graduated, the middle two nearly equal. Tarsi short, feathered for nearlyhalf their length ;

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. A history of British birds . CUCKOW. PICA RLE. CucuLus CANORUs, LinnaBus*. THE CUCKOW. Cucnhis canorus. CucuLUS, Liniueus].—Bill short and subcylindrical, culmen somewhat de-curved, upper mandible slightly notched near the tip ; lower mandible nearlystraight beneath ; gape wide. Nostrils basal, circular, with a prominent mem-branaceous rim. Wings with ten primaries, the first short, the third longest,the innermost three shorter than the first. Tail of ten feathers, the outer threepairs graduated, the middle two nearly equal. Tarsi short, feathered for nearlyhalf their length ; toes two before, two behind. * Syst. Nat. i. p. 108 (1766). f Loc. cit. 388 cucuLiD^. The history of the Cuckow has always been a subject ofinterest not only to ornithologists but to all lovers of Nature,and perhaps no bird has attracted so much attention, whileof none have more idle tales been told.* Some of its habitsare now well ascertained, but in regard to many of its pre-sumed peculiarities there is still much to be learnt, beforeour knowledge of the

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Keywords: ., bookauthorsaun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds