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When the Cackoo comes to the bare thorn, 
Sell your cow, and buy your corn ; 
But when she comes to the full bit, 
Sell your corn, and buy your sheep. 
The great charm of the Cuckoo’s monotonous cry lies in its 
associations. In itself it is not melodious, although Lisle Bowers 
avers it may be strictly harmonious. He tells us that it is in exact 
accordance with the diatonic scale, of which the two notes com- 
posing the cry are the fifth and third. In the 7th volume of the 
Transactions of the Linnean Society, is the following memorandum: 
-“The Cuckoo begins early in the season with the interval of a 
minor third, the bird then proceeds to a major third, next to a 
fourth, then a fifth, after which his voice breaks, without attaining 
a minor sixth.” It is added that the circumstance had been 
observed long before—certainly as far back as the publication of 
Heywood’s Epigrams, in 1587. It therefore presents no discord 
to the ear; nor would it, I believe, if it were not so accordant with 
musical notation, because it generally comes to us mellowed by 
distance, and brings to the mind a flood of recollected and 
anticipated pleasures, like those described in the above poetry by 
Graham, as well as in the writings of other poets. But be that as 
it may, the cry of the Cuckoo is extremely pleasant to most ears 
when first heard ; and all through the season to the time of his 
departure, we love to listen to the far away dreamy kind of call, 
for it seems like an invitation to follow some ivisible leader, 
through green woods and flowery vales, and into scenes of 
quietude and peace. 
The Cuckoo is about fourteen inches in length,—the tail 
measuring seven inches, and the bill about one inch. The general 
colour of the plumage is dark ashey grey above, and white beneath, 
with grey undulating lines across; the pinion feathers are dark 
brown, with white spots on the upper web, and the tail feathers are 
black, with oval white spots. A beautiful iridescent reflection 
plays over the darker parts, such as the head, throat, back, etc. 
The effect of these combinations of sober tints is extremely 
pleasing ; and the long slender form and gliding motion of the 
