146 BIRDS AND BIRDS. 



tion. I have never seen two cuckoos together, and I 

 have never heard their call answered ; it goes forth 

 into the solitudes unreclaimed. Like a true Ameri- 

 can, the bird lacks animal spirits and a genius for 

 social intercourse. One August night I heard one 

 calling, calling, a long time not far from my house. 

 It was a true night sound, more fitting then than by 

 day. 



The European cuckoo, on the other hand, seems 

 to be a joyous, vivacious bird. Wordsworth applies 

 to it the adjective " blithe," and says : 



" I hear thee babbling to the vale 

 Of sunshine and of flowers." 



English writers all agree that its song is animated 

 and pleasing, and the outcome of a light heart. 

 Thomas Hardy, whose touches always seem true to 

 nature, describes in one of his books an early sum- 

 mer scene from amid which " the loud notes of three 

 cuckoos were resounding through the still air." This 

 is totally unlike our bird, which does not sing in 

 concert, but affects remote woods, and is most fre- 

 quently heard in cloudy weather. Hence the name 

 of rain-crow that is applied to him in some parts of 

 the country. I am more than half inclined to believe 

 that his call does indicate rain, as it is certain that of 

 the tree-toad does. 



The cuckoo has a slender, long-drawn-out appear- 

 ance on account of the great length of tail. It is 

 seldom seen about farms or near human habitations 

 until the June cankerworm appears, when it makes 



