Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-03-15

The American burrowing owls arc found
west OF the Rocky Mountains, being
especially numerous on the plains of the
great plateau. They arc strictly diurnal
md feed on grasshoppcrs, crickets and
mice.
A much less agreeable bird is tho
cuckoo. Notwithstanding all the fine
things that have been written about tho
.'harbingcr of spring." the cuckoo is n
dissolutc, dishonest and lazy bird. He
never builds nest for himself, but has
the singular fashion of laying an cgg in
the most convenient nest of some other
bird, leaving the care of the young one
to the foster parents thus selected.
Though the egg is rather small one the
young cuckoo grows rapidly and reaches
good size while the legitimate &C.
cupants of the nest are still unable to
look after themselves. No sooner does
the intruder attain its prccocious strength
imam 1T proceeds to c. ect the other bird
iiingss from the nest by taking them on
It's shoulders and throwing them bodily
over the side of the nest. Being the
sole baby it receives all the support of
the family, gets every worm or bur tho
mother brings home, and soon gets bio
enough to get out and shift for itself.
The nest selected by the cuckoo mother
is that oil sparrow, finch or lark, and
it is believed by Montague and others
that she has the power to retain the epg
IN the ovlduct until she can find q nest
suitable for its reception.
The evil practices here related are. it
30 pleasant to observe, Characteristic of
Inc European and not of the American
cuckoo, the latter bird building its own
nest and rearing its young in the usual
manner. It's painful, however, to have
20 aunt that the nest is very slovenly
amir, being fiat and composed of few
ary SUCKS and grass on horizontal
branch OF low tree: and it is still more
painful to have to admit that it ia oiven
10 the highly rcprehensiblc practice OF
sucking the eggs of other birds, and that
IN many respects it is no better than il
should be.
Although so much has been written OF
the cuckoo by poets very little is known
yet by naturalists. There are really
more than forty well-detined species Of
the cuckoo, all of them being migratory.
The most interesting is the Europear
cuckoo. bird about fourteen inches
long and having sweep of about twenty.
hve inches across the wings. The cor.
ners of the mouth and eyelids and The
inside OF the mouth are of an orange
color. The plumage of the head, neck
breast and upper parts is deep bluisi
gray; the under parts and the auxiliary
feathers are white with distinct blacI
bars; the quilts are blacklsh gray:l tn,
tail us darker, approaching to blacl
Mt the end, and often with dark greer
gloss, tipped with white, and eacl
leather marked along the shaft with tri
angular white spots; the feet are yellow
and the bill black. The female very
closely resembles the male. 1t arrives
from Southern Europe in Great Britain
IN April, and generally departs in
August; 1t isvery generally distributed
over Europe, decreasing in number
toward the north and going southwark
as far as Africa. Tho well-known notes
OF the bird are heard in the BREEDING
season, and very much resemble il
name. The song is loud and joyful
confined to the males and silent befor,
the departure of the birds. The cuckoo,
food consists of the larvae of insects anf
caterpillars, but before swallowing th,
latter 1t cuts off the hinder end an(
frees the body from the intestinal cana
~ repeated jerks with its sharp bill
Inc males are more numerous than III,
females, and are bold and fierce. In
E autumn they arc fat, the ancients killing
and eating them at that time, although
IT would now almost be considered +,
sacrilege to cat a cuckoo even when ri
its piumpest.
The American cuckoo is smalle,
bird, seldom longer than twelve and one
half inches or wider across the wing
than sixteen inches. The general colol
OF the birds back and wings is ligh
green'sh brown, the under parts being
.Erayish white. They are shy birds