ID4 CUCKOO. 



How gladly is the Cuckoo welcomed by every English family ! 

 How eagerly is the news of his first arrival announced ! How 

 pleased is the child who has first heard its note ! It is the harbinger 

 of spring, and tells of the pleasant days to come, of sunshine, 

 leaves and flowers. 



Why art thou always welcome, lonely bird ? 

 " The heart grows young again when I am heard ; 

 Not in my double note the magic lies, 

 But in the fields and woods, the streams and skies. " 



Montgomery— £irrfs. 



Summer is yeomen in : 

 Loud sing, Cuckoo ! 



The merry Cuckow, messenger of Spring, 



His trompet shrile hath thrise already sounded. 



Spenser— S'on72ei, XIX. 



So does the Cuckow, when the Mavis sings 

 Begin his witlesse note apace to clatter. 



Spenser— ;S:o?2??rf, LXXXIV. 



The general habits of the Cuckoo in this country are fairly 

 well told in ihe old doggrel lines, thus so fully given in Yarrell : 



In March, he leaves his perch ; 



In April, come he will ; 



In May, he sings all day ; 



In June he alters his tune ; 



In July, he's ready to fly ; 



Come August, go he must ; 



In September, you'll him remember ; 



But October, he'll never get over. 



The Cuckoo sometimes arrives many days before he makes 

 himself known by his note. He will not sing in cold weather, 

 and this year (1884) the bitter winds of April prevented his singing 

 for nearly a fortnight after his arrival. 



The Cuckoo is very common in Herefordshire, and the noise 

 they sometimes make singing against each other, in the early 

 morning on the outskirts of Hereford, is most disturbing to nervous 

 people. His size, his barred under feathers, and something in the 

 mode of flight, often seem to induce the small birds to mistake 

 him for a Hawk, and they mob him accordingly. 



There is good reason to believe, that the male and female 

 Cuckoos arrive in separate bands. It is the male bird chiefly that 

 utters the well-known musical note " Cuckoo '' ; the female sings 



