CUCKOO 263 



A song similar to foregoing contains the following verses : — 



A chuthag gorm, a chuthag gorm O blue cuckoo, O blue cuckoo ! 



Tha ioghnadh orm gu dearbh Indeed I truly wonder 



Mur 'eil thu subhach air gach am If not joyful you always are 



'S an Samhradh leat a falbh, As with you goes the summer ; 



Cha 'n aithne dhuits' droch shid' gu You really know not weather bad, 



beachd Nor snow nor winter stormy. 



No sneachd no Geamhradh garbh, For May day calm you always have 



Gir tha thu 'n Ceitein ciuin do And pleasant times inherit. 



ghnath 

 'S air aghmhorachd an sealbh. 



A beautiful poem by Principal Shairp, entitled "The clearing 

 of the Glens/' opens with the lines : — 



" When from copse and crag and summit 

 Comes the cuckoo's lonely cry, 

 Down the glen from morn to midnight 

 Sounding, warm fine days are nigh. " 



In the popular imagination, so connected with fairyland was 

 the cuckoo, the very name was in a sense taboo. When referred to, 

 it was deemed discreet not to speak of it by its proper name of 

 " cuag," but circumlocutorily and euphemistically rather, as "ian 

 glas a cheitein," the grey bird of early summertide ; even at 

 the present day the mysterious bird is frequently referred to by 

 the same roundabout designation, so says Nether Lochaber, May 

 18, 1894. 



A cuckoo heard calling from a house-top or chimney (luidheir), 

 presages death to one of the inmates within the year ; though it is 

 said to be lucky to hear its cry from the right-hand side. In Ireland, 

 a cuckoo always appears to a certain family before a death in that 

 family. Medical and plant lore in regard to the cuckoo is not 

 wanting, for we read that the Jimus of a cuckoo decocted in wine 

 is a cure for the bite of a rabid dog ; while Cameron, in his Gaelic 

 names of plants, etc., says the Gaelic name for the cuckoo-flower 

 or lady's-smock is " Plur-na-cubhaig ; " the ragged robin, " Currachd- 

 na-cubhaig," the cuckoo's hood ; corncockle, " Brog-na-cubhaig," 

 the cuckoo's shoe, also sometimes " Curachd-na-cubhaig " ; bog- 

 violet is also "Brog-na-cubhaig," or cuthaioc, as is the cowslip 

 and blue-bell or wild hyacinth ; wake-robin, or in Old Eng. 

 cuckoo's pint, is in Irish " Gachar gaoicin cuthaidh " ; while 

 pansy or heart's-ease is in Gaelic " Spog-na-cubhaig," the cuckoo's 

 claw ; sorrel or sourag is called in Welsh "Suran y gog," cuckoo's 

 sorrel or sourag. An English saying is : " Cuckoo in May sings 

 all the day ; cuckoo in June changes his tune ; cuckoo in July, 

 prepared to fly ; cuckoo in August, go he must." Note the gender 

 here. 



A chuir a ruith na cubhaig, no air gnothach na cuthaig. 



On the cuckoo or the gowk's errand. Sending any one to 

 chase the cuckoo. April fool. 



