CUCKOO 



Cuculus canorus 



HE Cuckoo is a regular summer visitor to most parts of 

 the British Islands, including the Outer Hebrides and 

 the Orkneys ; to the Shetlands, however, it is only an 

 occasional visitor. 



From its peculiar notes, the Cuckoo is perhaps the 

 best-known bird in the British Islands. It is a most 

 widely distributed species, and there is hardly a single 



district, either on the coast or inland, where it is not seen during the summer. 

 Its stay in our Islands is somewhat short. It generally arrives in England 

 about the middle of April, and leaves our shores again in August and 

 September. Curiously enough, the old birds go first and the young 

 somewhat later, reversing the usual order of proceeding among migratory 

 species. I have frequently flushed the young birds from the long heather on 

 the moors in September, long after the old birds had departed for the south. 

 Its curious hawk-like flight is almost too well known to need description. 

 Almost every one must have seen it flying from tree to tree, uttering its curious 

 call, ' cuck-koo, cuck-koo? sometimes as its flies, but perhaps most often as it 

 sits on some fence-post, wall, or branch of a tree. When perched, the note is 

 generally accompanied by a jerking and spreading of the tail. The males 

 begin to call soon after they arrive, and their loud clear note may be heard 

 from some way off. In early summer a curious choking sound, rather 

 like a hoarse laugh, is often uttered after the usual call, which is sometimes 

 lengthened into three notes, either ' cuc-ciic-koo! or ' cnc-koo-koo.' The cry of 

 the female is a hoarse ' kwook-kwoiv-kwow-kwow' generally uttered when flying. 

 Its short neck, long tail, and rapid flight gives it rather the appearance of 

 a Sparrow Hawk on the wing. But the small birds are not the least afraid 

 of it, and usually follow it about from place to place, mobbing it most un- 

 VOL. in. o 53 



