JULY. 117 



warning, another cold snap caught him in early July, 

 and wise bird ! he departed. It was no use for us 

 to repeat that " in August fly he must," for he had 

 flown in July. 



AN IDLE TOURIST. 



For the cuckoo, alone among our migratory birds, 

 has liberty to come and go when the weather suits. 

 All the others are handicapped by nursery cares, 

 which instinct forbids them to forsake ; whereas the 

 idle cuckoo has foisted his youngsters upon all sorts 

 of small birds, and can make his grand tour of the 

 Peninsula and Africa without encumbrances when- 

 ever he chooses. Does he know that wagtail and 

 pipit, hedge-sparrow and warbler are looking after 

 his children ? Does he know that he has any chil- 

 dren ? " Cuckoo, cuckoo," is the only remark that 

 he has made, and it does not tell us much. 



SIGNS OF THE SEASON. 



But the cuckoo's untimely flight and the chill 

 which comes into the air whenever the weathercock 

 points to the north augur ill for the birds which are 

 obliged to stay with us until the autumn of the 

 calendar. We should have little love for the swal- 

 lows, perhaps, if they left their unfledged families to 

 starve in their mud-nests because a July or August 

 night was chilly ; but when a bad year's early pre- 

 cedents are followed it is a bad look-out for the 

 swallows when August has passed into September. 

 The weather may always change of course. The 

 wind, for reasons which the meteorologists are never 



