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CUCKOO. 



bird is a Cuckoo at one part of the year, and a Hawk at another; 

 in fact, the migration of Cuckoos is changed into a mere transmi- 

 gration. This may in part be accounted for, by the strange 

 resemblance there is in the plumage of a young Cuckoo to that of 

 the Sparrow-hawk, as well as in the particular mode of its flight. 

 So late even as the seventeenth century it was thought that the 

 Cuckoos lay torpid for the winter in hollow trees; facts which 

 show that nothing was known then of their migration to the South 

 of Africa. 



The Cuckoo has been traced as far South as Natal and 

 Damara-Land in Africa, and also nearer the Equator, but in North 

 Africa it is as common a favourite as with ourselves. It is widely 

 spread over Europe and Asia. Its long journeys may be one of the 

 reasons for the strange instinct with. which it is endowed to build 

 no nest. It does not remain long enough in one locality to rear 

 its own young. 



There is much yet to be learnt of the Cuckoo's history-, its 

 remarkable peculiarities, and the strange part the bird plays in the 

 economy of nature. Legends and poetical references to the Cuckoo 

 abound in all authorities. His first note is ever regarded as the 

 harbinger of bright genial weather, of warmth, comfort, and plenty. 



It is he that according to nursery saying " picks up the dirt " 

 and ushers in the delights of May. 



No wonder the poet hails him as 



Thrice welcome ! darling of the spring ! 



Even yet thou art to me 

 No bird ; but an invisible thing, 



A voice, a mystery. 



Wordsworth. 



[Genus — Coccystes.] 



[CoccYSTEs GLANDARius — Great Spotted Cuckoo.] 

 Has occurred once in Ireland. 



