118 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
some parts of Europe, in Egypt, and even as remote as 
Ceylon in the East Indies.—ADaAm.’! 
Byerley records one at Hoylake on the authority of 
the Rev. T. Staniforth.* 
FAMILY CUCULID AK. 
CUCKOO. 
CuUCcULUS CANORUS, Linnzus. 
The reports of the arrival of the Cuckoo in March or 
early April that appear almost every year in the local 
press are unworthy of credence; for although in some 
seasons the bird makes its appearance as early as the 
12th of April, it is not, as a rule, until from the 20th 
to the end of the month that its familiar notes are 
heard in Cheshire. 
Throughout the summer the Cuckoo is everywhere 
common, frequenting the coast sandhills, the meadows 
and woodlands of the Plain, and the uplands of the 
East. On the breezy grouse-moors of Longdendale 
and the hills between Macclesfield and the Derbyshire 
border, the bird is particularly abundant, depositing its 
eggs in the nests of the Meadow Pipits that build in 
the heather. When crossing these moors in May or 
June, one’s attention is constantly attracted by the 
sight of a Cuckoo pursued by a pair of its victims, 
which will follow it with shrill notes of alarm for a 
considerable distance. Later, in July and August, 
one often sees a young Cuckoo attended by its foster- 
parents, whose actions may be readily observed owing 
to the lack of cover. The Cuckoo, seated on a stone 
wall or tussock of grass, utters an incessant querulous 
1 Dobie, op. cit. p. 310. 2 Byerley, op. cit. p. 16. 
