Cuckoo

Latin name: Cuculus

Other names: Ciculi, Coucous, Cuco, Tuci

A weak bird that travels on the backs of kites

The flight of the cuckoo is short and weak, so to prevent fatigue they sometimes travel on the backs of kites. Their saliva produces the insect known as cicada. The cuckoo puts its eggs in with those of other birds to be raised by them.

Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 7:67): Cuckoos arrive at a fixed time, riding in the shoulders of kites, because their flight is short and weak; in this way they do not grow tired in the long spaces of the air. Their saliva generates grasshoppers.