290 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



Thrush (Eds. Nat. 1876), Swallow (young Cuckoo reared at 

 Harswell Rectory, Field, nth August 1894), and Ring Ouzel 

 (Butterfield MS.). The proportion of the fosterers in Wilsden 

 district is estimated to be : 



Meadow Pipit 80 per cent. 



Whinchat 5 ,, 



Various 15 



and occasionally two Cuckoo's eggs are laid in one nest. 

 Tunstall, in 1784, observed that he had kept Cuckoos in 

 confinement, but they always died with the advent of frost. 

 Mr. T. Whitwell, keeper, of Scugdale-in-Cleveland, informed 

 me, in July 1901, that he had just seen a young Cuckoo sitting 

 on a wall behind his house, which is on the edge of the moor, 

 and an old Cuckoo came to feed it several times while it was 

 under observation. On Strensall Common in the spring of 

 1894 one was heard calling on the wing, and uttering a chuckling 

 sound as well as the ordinary note. An instance of a female 

 Cuckoo shot whilst calling on the wing is recounted by Mr. 

 Butterfield, thus proving that it is not only the male which 

 utters its note while flying (Zool. 1899, p. 322). 



Yorkshire folk-lore connected with this favourite bird 

 indicates the interest manifested by the country folk, many 

 of whom aver that it changes into a hawk in winter. The 

 rhyme respecting its arrival and departure runs : 



" In April come it will, 

 In May it sings all day, 

 In June it changes its tune, 

 In July it begins to fly. 

 In August go it must." 



And in Craven district the proverb is : 



" In the month of Averil 

 The Gowk comes over the hill 

 In a shower of rain." 



An almost universal belief prevails that, if a person has 

 money in his pocket on first hearing the Cuckoo, he will never 

 be in want of it throughout the year, but to be without money 

 when he first hears the bird is unlucky. " When ya heer t' 

 Cuckoo shoot, Torn yer money reet aboot." To send a person 



