68 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



this belief also prevails in other localities, as in Connemara, 

 where this bird is, moreover, held in veneration. In 

 Cornwall it is regarded as lucky to hear the Cuckoo first 

 on the right hand and in front, but unlucky from the left. 

 In Shropshire in former times the labourers used on first 

 hearing the Cuckoo to cease work and devote themselves 

 to merry-making and drinking the " Cuckoo Ale." 



For some reason not very obvious the Cuckoo is uni- 

 versally believed to be a foolish bird, hence it has long 

 and very generally been the custom to call a foolish person 

 a cuckoo. In Scotland (as also in North Ireland) this 

 becomes " gowk " (q.v.), and the victim of All Fools' Day 

 jokes is invariably termed a gowk. He is usually the 

 bearer on his fool's errand of a missive containing 

 this couplet : 



This is the first of Aprile, 

 Hunt the gowk another mile. 



The knowledge of the Cuckoo's singular breeding-economy 

 is as old as Aristotle, who says that it makes no nest and 

 sometimes lays its eggs in the nests of small birds and 

 devours their eggs. He says that some say the young 

 Cuckoo ejects from the nest the other young birds ; others 

 that the foster-parent kills her young ones and feeds the 

 young Cuckoo with their flesh ;' and some again that the 

 old Cuckoo comes and devours them. Cuckold is the name 

 applied from early times down to the present day to the 

 husband of an unfaithful wife. The word is of Scandi- 

 navian origin, and occurs in Mid. Eng. as cukeweald. 



An old belief that Cuckoos become SPARROW- 

 HAWKS in winter should be mentioned. It can be traced 

 to Aristotle, who says that the Cuckoo is said by some to 

 be a changed hawk, because the hawk which it resembles 

 disappears when the Cuckoo comes. The late Canon 

 Tristram records that on remonstrating with a man lor 

 killing a Cuckoo the defence was that it was " well-known 

 that Sparrow-hawks turned into Cuckoos in summer." 

 Regarding the old belief in the hibernation of migratory 

 birds, Willughby says : " What becomes of the Cuckow in 

 the Winter-time, whether hiding herself in hollow trees, 

 or other holes and caverns, she lies torpid, and at the return 

 of spring revives again, or rather at the approach of winter, 

 being impatient of cold, shifts place and departs into hot 

 countrys, is not as yet to me certainly known." He pro- 

 ceeds to give second hand an alleged instance of " some 

 old, dry, rotten Willows " being cast into the stove when 



