156 CUCKOO. SONGS. 
while the descriptions, which breathe of rural sights and 
sounds, show that nature has suffered no change :— 
«« Sumer is icumen in, Summer is come in, 
Lhude sing cuccu; Loud sing cuckoo; 
Groweth sed and bloweth med, The seed groweth and the mead bloweth, 
And springeth the wdé nu; And the wood shoots now; 
Sing cuccu. Sing cuckoo. 
Awe bleteth after lamb, The ewe bleats after the lamb, 
Lhouth after calvé cu ; The cow lows after the calf; 
Bulluc sterteth, bucké verteth, The bullock starts, the buck verts, 
Murie sing cuccu; Merrily sing cuckoo ; 
Cuccu, cuccu ; Cuckoo, cuckoo ; 
Wel singes thu cuccu, Well singest thou cuckoo, 
Ne swik thu naver nu.” Mayest thou never cease. 
This song is preserved amongst the Harleian MSS., 
No. 978, and is remarkable for being accompanied with 
musical notes, and as being the oldest sample of English 
secular music. 
The Wagtail (Motacilla Yarrellit) has no claim to be 
included amongst the birds of song, but as the latter are 
chiefly small birds, and as Shakespeare has only alluded 
to it once, we may be excused for introducing it in the 
present chapter. 
In an opprobrious sense, the word “wagtail” would 
doubtless denote a pert, flippant fellow. Kent, in King 
Lear (Act ii. Sc. 2), says,— 
“Spare my grey beard, you wagtazl !” 
In many parts of the country this bird is called “ dish- 
’ 
washer,” and the name appears to be of some antiquity. 
Turbervile, in his “Booke of Falconrie,” 1575, speaking 
