139 



THE CUCKOO. 



Cuculus canorus, L. 



The Cuckoo arrived along the whole of the south coast. 

 Single birds in Devonshire and Hampshire on the 31st of 

 March were the first arrivals recorded. A solitary straggler 

 reached Cumberland on the ].3th of April, but, with this 

 exception, the few birds observed up to the middle of 

 the month were confined to the more southern portion 

 of the country. Cuckoos commenced to arrive in greater 

 numbers about the third week of April, and by the end of 

 that month they had spread all over the kingdom, but 

 immigration continued and the numbers in the country 

 increased, though more slowly, up to the middle of May. 

 After that, with the exception of increases in Devonshire and 

 Somersetshire on the 19th and 22nd, there was apparently 

 little change in their numbers or distribution. The only 

 lighthouse record was of a single bird killed at St, Catherine's 

 on the night of the 25th/26th of April. 



An egg was found in a Robin's nest in Surrey on the 17th 

 of May, in a Sedge- Warbler's in Essex on the 19th, in a 

 Hedge-Sparrow^s in Hertfordshire on the 20fch, in a Willow- 

 Warbler's in Hertfordshire on the 23rd, in a Pied Wagtail's 

 in Somersetshire on the 26th, in a Spotted Flycatcher's in 

 Somersetshire and in a Pied Wagtail's in Derbyshire on the 

 29th. On the 1st of June a newly hatched Cuckoo was 

 found in a Pipit's nest in Hampshire, together with one of 

 the foster-parents' eggs. 



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