MARCH CUCKOOS 357 



they had ever known a single confirmatory instance 

 of such a report, and the repHes received all ex- 

 pressed the incredulity of the writers. 



The late Lord Lilford wrote : — 



"I have not as yet (May 1894) ever seen a 

 Cuckoo that was even supposed to have been 

 obtained in this country before April. Till I have 

 seen a specimen positively sworn to by a competent 

 person as so obtained I shall remain as at present 

 entirely incredulous." 



Mr John Cordeaux, writing from North Lincoln- 

 shire on the 15th April 1899, stated that, on looking 

 through his notes of the previous forty years, he 

 found the Cuckoo seldom recorded before the fourth 

 week in April, that is after the 21st. The earliest 

 he had noted was heard on April 8. 



The late William Borrer, author of The Birds of 

 Sussex, wrote : — 



" Having kept notes of the arrival of the Cuckoo 

 in this country for more than thirty years, I find the 

 earliest to have occurred on April 6, 1844, but 

 about the 14th is the more usual date." 



Mr James Carter, of Masham, Yorkshire, an 

 old correspondent, wrote : — 



" I find that the earliest record of the arrival of 

 the Cuckoo during the last twenty years was on 

 April 17, and it is usually about the third week in 

 April before it is seen here in Yorkshire." 



Writing from Bloxham, Banbury, Mr O. V. 

 Aplin, author of The Birds of Oxfordshire, re- 

 marked : — 



" The Cuckoo seldom reaches North Oxon 



