14 General Notes on the Cuckoo. 



the Cuckoo, and discussions have often been carried 

 to such fever heat that the parties have become 

 life-long enemies. This is not as it should be — we 

 should all work to find out the truth, and when 

 unmistakable evidence is brought to bear to shew 

 us we are wrong, it is only right we should cave in. 



The bird may generally be looked for in the 

 British Isles about the middle of April, and those 

 people who are continually sending silly records 

 to their local papers of its appearance in Febru- 

 ary and March might note this with advantage. 

 A few well authenticated instances of its appear- 

 ance in our Country towards the end of March 

 have been forthcoming, but generally speaking, it 

 is rarely heard or seen previous to the end of the 

 first week in April. It winters in Central Africa and 

 Southern India, for which part of the world it quits 

 our shores towards the end of August, although 

 young birds of the year often stay later. 



The Cuckoo is one of the very few polygamous 

 birds in the British Isles, and as to the reason why 

 the bird chooses to hand over the care of its young 

 to foster-parents some Naturalists assert that the 

 construction of the bird does not allow it to sit on 



