358 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



before the last week in April. In twelve years 

 (1878- 1 899) the average date of my own observa- 

 tion of it has been the 27th or 28th. The earliest 

 date the 20th in 1883." 



Mr Thomas Southwell, of Norwich, after forty 

 years' experience, wrote : — 



" Such a bird as a ' March Cuckoo ' has no place 

 in my experience. It has struck me that where any 

 attempt has been made to describe these early 

 birds, the few and very vague particulars given 

 have always appeared to indicate the plumage of 

 the young bird, an obvious absurdity, but very 

 suggestive of the Kestrel. I have now before me 

 a table of Indications of Spring, extending over a 

 very long period, and kept by a succession of 

 naturalists of the same family and in the same 

 parish in Norfolk. The date of the Cuckoo's 

 first note is there recorded for 106 years, the 

 earliest being on April 9, 1752, and the latest 

 on May 7, 1767, and the mean of 106 years 

 April 23." 



In addition to the foregoing records, the follow- 

 ing reports of early Cuckoos appear equally worthy 

 of credence. The Rev. W. A. Faulkener, of 

 Churchill Rectory, Worcester, wrote : "The Cuckoo 

 arrived to-day (April 4, 1894). I have booked its 

 coming to this spot for the last thirty years, and 

 this is the earliest date I have on record during- 

 that period. From the 15th to the 21st are the 

 most usual dates." The same year Mr J. G. 

 Whitehead, of Woodfalls, Yalding, Kent, reported : 

 " I saw and heard the first Cuckoo on April 4. It 



