CUCKOW 119 
canorus of Linnzus. In some parts of the United Kingdom it is 
more frequently called Gowk, and it is the Greek xéxxvé, the Italian 
Cuculo or Cucco, the French Coucou, the German Kuckuk, the Dutch 
Koekkoek, the Danish Kukker or Gijég, and the Swedish Gék. The 
oldest English spelling of the name seems to have been Cuccw. 
No single bird has perhaps so much occupied the atten- 
tion both of naturalists and of those who are not naturalists, 
or has had so much written about» it, as this, and of no bird 
perhaps have more idle tales been told. Its strange and, accord- 
ing to the experience of most people, its singular habit of 
entrusting its offspring to foster-parents is enough to account for 
much of the interest which has been so long felt in its history ; but 
this habit is shared probably by many of its Old-World relatives, 
as well as in the New World by birds which are not in any near 
degree related to it (cf. Cow-BirD). In giving here a short account 
of this species, there will be no need to refute much of the nonsense 
about it which has found access to works even of respectable 
authority ; but, besides the known facts of its economy, there are 
certain suppositions in regard to parts of its history that are un- 
known, which suppositions are apparently probable enough to 
deserve notice. 
To begin with the known facts. The Cuckow is a summer- 
visitant to the whole of Europe, reaching even far within the Arctic 
circle, and crossing the Mediterranean from its winter-quarters in 
Africa at the end of March or beginning of April. Its arrival is at 
once proclaimed by the peculiar and in nearly all languages ono- 
matopoetic cry of the cock—a true song in the technical sense of 
the word, since it is confined to the male sex and to the season of 
love. Ina few days the cock is followed by the hen, and amorous 
contests between keen and loud-voiced suitors are to be commonly 
noticed, until the respective pretensions of the rivals are decided. 
Even by night they are not silent; but as the season advances the 
. 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 neighbour- 
hood to be up in its pursuit, just as though it were a Hawk, to 
which indeed its mode of flight and general appearance give it an 
undoubted resemblance—a resemblance that misleads some beings, 
who ought to know better, into confounding it with the Birds-of- 
prey, instead of recognizing it as a harmless if not a beneficial 
destroyer of hairy caterpillars. Thus pass away some weeks. 
Towards the middle or end of June its “plain-song” cry alters; it 
becomes rather hoarser in tone, and its first syllable or note is 
doubled. Soon after it is no longer heard at all, and by the middle 
of July an old Cuckow is seldom to be found in these islands, 
though a stray example, or even, but very rarely, two or three in 
