Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



would certainly kill the others, as they suc- 

 cessively appeared, merely by its own weight. 

 The mother cuckoo is not to be whitewashed 

 entirely; but she is not the heartless volup- 

 tuary she has been supposed. She is actively 

 on the watch over six or seven young ones 

 entrusted to the care of as many nurses, and 

 stands by to take charge of a squab which some 

 foster-parent of uncommonly sharp understand- 

 ing, or uncommonly sharp temper, has thrown 

 out of the nest, for the devil's bantling it is ! 



The old English song of spring registers the 

 belief that the cuckoo never bothers itself with 

 labor (swik) — 



Wei singes thu cuccu, 

 Ne swik thou naver nu. 

 Sing cuccu, cuccu — 



and Middleton has left on record the con- 

 tempt of Englishmen for Welshmen, or 

 perhaps Frenchmen, in the phrase "Welsh 

 ambassador " as applied to the cuckoo, either 

 because Welshmen came down in spring from 



83 



