cuckow. 389 



tion that we lack, and partly to connect such results of 

 observation as may be deemed facts. Even with this limita- 

 tion the biography of the bird, to be written fully, would 

 require a volume. 



The Cuckow generally appears in this country about the 

 middle of April,* the cock-birds arriving first, and their 

 well-known notes are heard with pleasure as evidence that 

 spring has returned. In a few days the hens follow, and 

 soon after amorous contests between keen and loud-voiced 

 suitors may be noticed — contests that are continued for 

 some weeks, until the respective pretensions of the rivals 

 are decided. But while the females rove about almost at 

 random, the males seem not to wander far from the station 

 they assume so soon as they have settled themselves. There 

 is a general and apparently well-founded belief that the 

 latter are more numerous than the former, and it is also 

 pretty evident that, unlike most other birds, Cuckows do not 

 pair. Hence, according to the opinion of the best observers,! 

 Cuckows are not polygamous in the ordinary sense of the 

 word, but the hens consort with one cock after another in 

 succession. Thus though a hen may often be seen followed 

 by more than one cock, she is not followed very far or very 

 long by any one bird in particular, her suitors returning 

 one after another each to his own haunt, whence they con- 

 tinue to proclaim themselves almost incessantly. Even by 

 night they are not silent, but as the season advances, their 

 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 neighbourhood to be up in its pursuit, 

 just as though it were a Hawk, to which, indeed, its mode 



■ Its arrival Las frequently been reported in March or earlier still, but such 

 records must be treated with suspicion if not incredulity. Mr. Harper Bays 

 (Zool. p. 3115) that a Cuckows eyg was taken in Norfolk, April 5tb, 1851, and 

 (p. 3145) that on the 14th of the same month he saw two, one of which he shot. 

 Mr. Borrer informs the Kditor that, in a series of observations made in Sussex 

 for more than twenty yean, April 6th, 18 11, was the earliest day on which he 

 noticed the Cuekow's occurrence. 



f Cf. Van Mons, Hull. Aeud. l'.nixellec, i. p. 115. 



