CUCULUS CANORUS. 



(Coinmon Cuckoo.) 



" If the Cuckoo came when the tree was bare, pasture would be bad and corn good ; if the tree 

 was in leaf, the reverse. — Old Saying." 



Shakespeare's England, by G. W. Thornbury, p. 276. 



This species has a wide range. Mr. Allen O. Hume found Cuculus canorus, 

 Linn., at an elevation of 11,000 feet, close to the snow, in June 1870, in 

 Ladalv. Mr. R. Swinhoe heard it in May on "the hills round Chefoo," 

 province of Shantung, North China (' Ibis,' 3rd series, vol. v. January 1875, 

 p. 125). I do not say any thing here on the Baldamine theory of Cuckoos' 

 eggs, but refer my readers to ' The Ibis ' and ' Zoologist,' in which I have 

 stated nearly all I can. Some Cuckoos' eggs are hatched very late ; I have 

 one egg taken July 19. Now it is manifest that an egg on July 19 could not 

 turn out a bird which would be ready to cross the sea before the middle of 

 September. Accordingly we find, when out shooting, young Cuckoos hanging 

 about ; and I have done so. The Swift, which comes late and goes early, 

 does not moult in England. A bird has plenty to do after its nesting-duties 

 are over to get through the moult and prepare for migration, particularly one 

 which has two sets of eggs and young. 



Our Cuckoo is often spoken of as an example of the " mimicry " of 

 Bates and Wallace ; and the fact cannot be denied that it resembles some 

 Hawks. This even has attracted the attention of keepers &c. Usually the 

 creature that mimics is supposed to derive an advantage by its resemblance 



