CUCKOW 119 



canorus of Linnpeus. In some parts of the United Kingdom it is 

 more frequently called Gowk, and it is the Greek kokkv^, the Italian 

 Ciiculo or Cucco, the French Coucou, the German Kuchik, the Dutch 

 KoekkoeJc, the Danish liukker or Gjog, and the Swedish Gok. The 

 oldest English spelling of the name seems to have been Cuccu. 



No single bird has perhaps so much occupied the atten- 

 tion both of naturalists and of those who are not naturalists, 

 or has had so much written about it, as this, and of no bird 

 pei^haps have more idle tales been told. Its strange and, accord- 

 ing to the experience of most people, its singular habit of 

 entrusting its offspring to foster-parents is enough to account for 

 much of the interest which has been so long felt in its history ; but 

 this habit is shared probably by many of its Old- World relatives, 

 as well as in the New World by birds which are not in any near 

 degree related to it (cf. Cow-bird). In giving here a short account 

 of this species, there will be no need to refute much of the nonsense 

 about it which has found access to works even of respectable 

 authority ; but, besides the known facts of its economy, there are 

 certain suppositions in regard to parts of its history that are un- 

 known, which suppositions are apparently probable enough to 

 deserve notice. 



To begin with the known facts. The Cuckow is a summer- 

 visitant to the whole of Europe, reaching even far within the Arctic 

 circle, and crossing the Mediterranean from its winter-quarters in 

 Africa at the end of March or beginning of April. Its arrival is at 

 once proclaimed by the peculiar and in nearly all languages ono- 

 matopoetic cry of the cock — a true song in the technical sense of 

 the word, since it is confined to the male sex and to the season of 

 love. In a few days the cock is followed by the hen, and amorous 

 contests between keen and loud-voiced suitors are to be commonly 

 noticed, until the respective pretensions of the rivals are decided. 

 Even by night they are not silent ; but as the season advances the 

 song is less frequently heard, and the Cuckow seems rather to avoid 

 observation as much as possible, the more so since whenever it 

 shews itself it is a signal for all the small birds of the neighbour- 

 hood to be up in its pursuit, just as though it were a Hawk, to 

 which indeed its mode of flight and general appearance give it an 

 undoubted resemblance — a resemblance that misleads some beings, 

 who ought to know better, into confounding it with the Birds-of- 

 prey, instead of recognizing it as a harmless if not a beneficial 

 destroyer of hairy caterpillars. Thus pass away some weeks. 

 Towards the middle or end of June its " plain-song " cry alters ; it 

 becomes rather hoarser in tone, and its first syllable or note is 

 doubled. Soon after it is no longer heard at all, and by the middle 

 of July an old Cuckow is seldom to be found in these islands, 

 though a stray example, or even, but very rarely, two or three in 



