The Cuchoo 
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue 
Do paint the meadows with delight : 
The cuckoo then, on every tree, 
Mocks married men ; for thus sings he 
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo.! 
In Bottom’s song in Midsummer Night's 
Dream the bird is styled “the plain-song 
cuckoo gray,” as if its music were as dull 
as the colour of its coat. When Portia 
comes back from her memorable trip to 
Venice and re-enters her home, Lorenzo, 
who is eagerly expecting her return, says 
to Jessica : 
That is the voice, 
Or I am much deceived, of Portia. 
-Whereupon Portia, overhearing him, re- 
marks to Nerissa : 
He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo, 
By the bad voice.? 
As summer advances, the cuckoo’s note, 
having grown familiar, no longer attracts 
the notice of the country-folk, as it did 
when the bird first appeared in April. King 
ly, ii. 881. Merchant of Venice, v. i. 110. 
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