GREY CUCKOO. 117 



" Cuckoo ! Cuckoo ! O ! welcome, welcome notes ! 



Fields, woods, and waves rejoice 



In that recover' d voice, 

 As on the wind its fluty music floats. 



At that elixir strain. 



My youth resumes its reign, 

 And life's first spring comes blossoming again." 



Early in the sunny mornings of May, and towards the close 

 of day, he who wanders along the wooded valleys will be sure 

 to hear the ever-pleasing cry of the Cuckoo, unvaried though 

 it be, as the bird, perched on a rock, or lichen-clad block, or 

 balancing itself on the branch of some tall tree, cooes aloud to 

 its mate. Let us pause and listen : the bird is not far distant, 

 and we may describe its song, such as it is. You hearnothinor 

 but the same hu-hu, or if you please so to syllable it coo-coo, 

 repeated at short interv^als ; but if you attend better you will 

 find that these two loud and mellow notes are preceded by a 

 kind of churring or chuckling sound, which, if you creep up 

 unseen, you will hear to consist of a low and guttural inflec- 

 tion of the voice, during which the throat seems distended. 

 But the Cuckoo, ever vigilant and shy, has observed you, and 

 flies off, followed by two small birds, which, by their mode of 

 flying and incessant cheeping notes, you know to be Meadow 

 Pipits. They keep pace with it, and when it alights on the 

 grassy bank, they alight too, and take their stand in its vicinity. 

 You have heard that Cuckoos lay their egg in the nest of a 

 Pipit or other small bird, and you at first suppose these to be its 

 foster-parents. This, however, is not a young Cuckoo, but an old 

 grey male just arrived from the sunny south. Then what have 

 the Pipits to do with it 1 I cannot tell, for although I have 

 rarely in the hilly parts of the country seen a Cuckoo unattend- 

 ed by one or two of them, I have not observed that it was fed 

 by them, or that they molested it otherwise than by hovering 

 about it. They attend upon it, fly after it, stand beside it, and 

 seem to be concerned about it, to be distrustful of it, to watch 

 its motions, and to indicate their dislike to it by their con- 

 tinued cheepings. It seems to me that they take it for a hawk. 

 But the Cuckoos are not always followed by Pipits, for often 

 you may see them gliding among the trees without any attend- 



