cuckow. 405 



young is plaintive, and has been likened to that of both the 

 Hedge- Sparrow and the Titlark, but the bird has also a 

 strange, loud, rattling note, which it will at times utter (at 

 least in confinement) without any apparent cause. 



The Cuckow is commonly distributed every summer over 

 the greater part of Europe and its islands, including the 

 whole of Ireland, the Hebrides and Orkney. Shetland it 

 visits not infrequently, and breeds there ; but in the Faeroes 

 it is only recorded to have appeared thrice, and it is not 

 known to have reached Iceland. It occurs also in the wooded 

 parts of Norway as high as lat. 70° 20' N., as well as on the 

 Varanger Fjord, but not every year. About Archangel it is 

 common, and thence it is found across Northern Asia, regard 

 being had to the growth of vegetation which accommodates 

 the insects that form its food, to the shores of the Pacific, 

 while examples from Japan seem to be specifically identical. 

 It is common throughout China according to the season, and 

 in winter extends very far to the southward, having been 

 obtained in Celebes by Mr. Wallace (Ibis, 1866, p. 359), in 



from dwelling on the fact that for six hundred years English versifiers, good, bad 

 and indifferent, have made this bird a favourite theme. Mr. Chappell (Ballad 

 Literature &c. i. pi. i. pp. 21-24) has given from the Harleian Manuscripts 

 (No. 978) a. facsimile of a song of the thirteenth century — " the earliest secular 

 composition in parts, known to exist in any country " — which hails the coming 

 in of summer and has for its burden "Sing cuccu." Passing over the many 

 passages in which Shakespear, Milton and other great poets have happily cele- 

 brated this bird, there belongs to the last century an " Ode to the Cuckoo", of 

 disputed authorship (cf. Brit. Quart. Rev. Ixi. pp. 500-513), one of the most 

 beautiful pieces in our language. The same reason here excludes quotation of 

 the numerous popular rimes relating to this bird, but as one set (which has many 

 variations) of these has been printed in former editions of this work the fullest 

 version of the doggrel may be here inserted : — 



In March he leaves his perch, 

 In April come he will, 

 In May he sings all day, 

 In June he changes 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. 



For old superstitions and legends relating to the Cuckow reference may be 

 made to Grimm's ' Deutsche Mythologie ' (ed. 2, 1844, pp. 640-G46 — abstract 

 Ann. N. H. xiii. pp. 40:5-405); Broderip's 'Zoological Recreations' (pp. 68-81); 

 'Notes and Queries' (almost eveiy volume); Prof. Gubernatds's 'Zoological 

 Mythology' (ii. pp. 226-236) ; and M. Rutland's ' Faune Pepulaire de la France' 

 (ii. pp. 82-99). 



