THE CUCKOO 



WITH the single exception of the 

 nightingale, bird of lovers, no other 

 has been more written of in prose or verse 

 than the so-called " harbinger of spring." 

 This is a foolish name for a visitor that does 

 not reach our shores before, at any rate, the 

 middle of April. Even Whitaker allows us 

 to recognise the coming of spring nearly a 

 month earlier ; and for myself, impatient if 

 only for the illusion of Nature's awakening, 

 I date my spring from the ending of the 

 shortest day. Once the days begin to 

 lengthen, it is time to glance at the elms for 

 the return of the rooks and to get out one's 

 fishing-tackle again. Yet the cuckoo comes 

 rarely before the third week of April, save in 

 the fervent imagination of premature heralds, 

 who, giving rein to a fancy winged by desire, 

 or honestly deceived by some village cuckoo 

 clock heard on their country rambles, 

 solemnly write to the papers announcing the 

 inevitable March cuckoo. They know better 

 in the Channel Islands, for in the second week 

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