Miscellaneous. 403 



to point ; in the tail being simple, or without any trace of fin, raised 

 line, or keel, above ; and lastly in the absence of any kind of tentacle 

 behind the spiracles. In the second and last of these characters it 

 approaches much more nearly the American Pt. maclura, Miill. und 

 Henle, but differs in smoothness when adult, in colour, greater width 

 of body, and in the tail being sharp-edged or fin-carinate beneath. 

 From the Indian Pt. micrura, Miill. und Henle, it is abundantly di- 

 stinct. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



POPULAR TRADITIONS RELATIVE TO THE CUCKOO. 



[We know not what degree of relationship our readers may be 

 disposed to admit between Natural History and the imaginations and 

 traditions suggested to mankind in various ages and countries by 

 natural objects. These will at least not be less amusing to the 

 lover of Natural History than to the general reader ; and may some- 

 times have a relation to supposed characters and qualities, and to 

 the origin of those popular names which convey the same idea in a 

 remarkable manner through various countries and languages. — R. T.] 



To no bird is the gift of prophecy more commonly attributed than 

 to the cuckoo, whose loud measured voice resounds in the woods just 

 clad with fresh verdure. 



The old German saying, " Wann der gauch guket," denotes the be- 

 ginning of the spring*, just as, according to Hesiod, the song of 

 the cuckoo announces the time of the spring rains. Two old poems 

 describe the contention of Spring and Winter about the cuckoo, and 

 the lament of the herdsmen for him : the Spring praises, slow Win- 

 ter — tarda hiems — reproaches the bird ; the herdsmen represent him 

 as taken away or drowned ; the line is remarkable : — 



Tempus adest veris, cuculus modo rumpe soporemf. 

 He announces by his song the loveliest season of the year, but it 

 is not stated in these poems that he predicts to man. The Anglo- 

 Saxon Codex ExoniensiSj 146, 27, lately published by Mr. Thorpe, 

 ascribes likewise to this bird the announcing of the year : — 

 geacas gear budon ; 

 cuculi annum nuntiavere. 

 The popular belief still exists, that whoever hears the cry of the 

 cuckoo for the first time in the spring, may ask him how many more 

 years he has to live. In Switzerland the children cry •' Gugger, wie 

 lang lebi no ? " In Lower Saxony, 



" Kukuk vam haven 

 Wo lange sail ik leven ? " 

 and then they listen and count ; as many times as the bird cries 



* Looking forward to the return of fine weather in spring, the Noriiolk 

 people say, " When the cuckoo has picked up the dirt." — R. T. 

 t Both poems are ascribed to Bode in Dornavii Arophitheatrum. 



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