THE CUCKOO 
CUCULUS CANORUS 
LocaL names in surrounding counties : 
Stratus In British AviraunA: A common and widely 
distributed summer visitor. 
Raprat DistriBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: I scarcely like to hazard a statement as to how 
near to Wren’s masterpiece the voice of the Cuckoo has 
been heard. I have met people who stoutly maintained 
the early morning presence of the Cuckoo in the ‘Temple 
Gardens, and in St. James’s Park, a little further west. 
Without in any way wishing to cast doubt upon the 
observation, I can state that the bird has frequently been 
detected in Hyde Park, in Kensington Gardens, Holland 
Park, Battersea Park, Regent’s Park, and Victoria Park. 
A little outside these limits the Cuckoo is still oftener 
heard in such places as Peckham, Clapham, Brompton, 
Shepherd’s Bush, Kensal Rise, Kilburn, Haverstock Hill, 
Highbury, Stoke Newington, and Clapton. Beyond the 
six-mile radius the Cuckoo is of increasingly common 
occurrence, and there is no rural suburb of the Metropolis 
that at one time or another, in April, May, and June, does 
not echo its cheerful voice. How close it actually breeds 
to the central districts is another difficult problem to solve, 
but it probably does so in any locality where it can find a 
suitable nest in which to place its alien egg. ‘The breed- 
ing range would then be pratically coincident with the 
distribution of the many small insectivorous birds that 
breed within the Metropolitan suburbs. 
The Cuckoo reaches London about the middle of 
April. For weeks before this there are usually many 
records in the newspapers to the effect that the bird 
has been heard in this locality or that, but they are all 
untrustworthy, and notwithstanding all that may be said 
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