A FEW GENERAL NOTES 



ON 



THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE CUCKOO. 



Cuckoo ( Ciiculus Canorus.) 



Everybody almost has heard the welcome note 

 of ' Kook-oo, Kook-oo ' in early April, and almost 

 everyone in the country anxiously waits to draw 

 first blood. But everybody is not acquainted any 

 farther with the bird's mysterious life and habits 

 other than it cries ' Kook-oo,' that it is with us only 

 during the Summer, and that it lays its eggs in some 

 other bird's nest. 



It is impossible to give as lucid an account of 

 this mysterious bird as I should like, without devot- 

 ing pages to it, and I must perforce content myself 

 with a few general notes about the bird, which 

 gladdens our sense of hearing as the Swallow does 

 our sense of seeing, and one or two extracts from 

 the writings of other Naturalists. 



Probably, no bird has caused such controversy as 



