Note 30 — NOTES[H] ON CERTAIN BIRDS FOUND IN NORFOLK.

The circumstance which gave rise to the idea that there were two kinds of Cuckoos, differing only in size, might possibly be discovered were it worth the research; possibly it would be found that the second species was of foreign origin. Aldrovandus, as quoted by Willughby, says, "Our Bolognese Fowlers do unanimously affirm, that there are found a greater and a lesser sort of Cuckows; and besides, that the greater are of two kinds, which are distinguished one from the other by the only difference of colour: but the lesser differ from the greater in nothing else but magnitude." Perhaps it was Browne's latent respect for antiquity which led him to mention the tradition.