300 Localities in Britain visited by the Cuckoo. 



while passing from one tree to another. We suspect Mr. 

 Blyth's words in VII. 348., " the full, melodious, note, which 

 the cuckoo often utters on the wing," to be intended to signify 

 this sound. 



The usual, and the less usual, Note of the Cuckoo. Which of 

 the Sexes utters each of these ? Do both of the Sexes utter each 

 of them P< — It is as good as suggested, in IV. 415. note *, and 

 VII. 348., that it may be the female, because the titlark has 

 been observed to attack the cuckoo on the wing and singing : 

 the object of its attack would, it has been supposed, rather be 

 the female. The remarks in p. 289. present another view. 



The Cuckoo sings sometimes on the Wing. — IV. 270. 415. 

 note * ; VII. 348. 



The Cuckoo sings, in warm Weather, through the Evening, 

 and through nearly all the Night. — IV. 147. 270. 466.; VI. 

 199. and note # , 291. note # , 374. 



When does the Cuckoo become silent in Britain ? — Contri- 

 butions towards an answer are in III. 450.; IV. 184. 275. 466. 



Dates of the Cuckoo's arriving every Spring in Britain. — 

 The nearest approximation to these will be the dates of first 

 hearing its call. Facts relative to these objects are given in 

 III. 154.; IV. 270.; VII. 342., and note # . In a list of 

 birds met with in the neighbourhood of the river Conwy, in 

 Caernarvonshire, with notes upon some of them, lying by us, 

 it is stated that the cuckoo had been first heard, in 1824, on 

 April 21.; in 1825, on April 22.; in 1826, on April 21.; in 

 1827, on April 26. ; in 1828, on April 29. ; in 1830, on April 

 27. ; in 1831, on April 21. At Bury St. Edmund's, a friend 

 of ours first heard the cuckoo, in 1829, on April 21.; and 

 another, or the same, friend, in 1831, on April 15. 



Localities in Britain visited by the Cuckoo, and the Condi- 

 tions of these Localities. — The localities in Britain are pro- 

 bably so nearly every where, that the point of interest, under 

 this head, would rather be the localities in which the cuckoo 

 is annually neither heard nor seen : there may be such. As 

 to the condition of the localities in which the cuckoo has 

 been known to annually occur, a collecting of notices of 

 these would be not uninstructive. Two districts in which we 

 had known it to occur — the neighbourhood of Bury St. 

 Edmund's, Suffolk, and Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire — are 

 conditioned with trees, water, and meadow land : but Mr. 

 Hewitson, in his British Oology, t. lv., has noted " open heaths " 

 as its favourite places of resort ; Mr. Hewitson, speaking of, 

 it is most probable, the county of Northumberland. Cuckoos 

 have been noted to be numerous in the following localities : — 

 Malvern Hills, Worcestershire (III. 160.); Ampthill, Bed- 



