256 Calls and Young Cuckoo Birds. 



second koo is definitely heard at periods so early as 

 to make it impossible that it could be due to the cir- 

 cumstances to which he attributes it. He quoted the 

 old saw, which lingers in some parts of the country 

 and is common in our district : 



" April, cuckoo come, 

 May, he sounds his drum, 

 June, he changes tune, 

 July, he may fly, 

 August, he must." 



This rhyme has variations in different parts of the 

 country. Here is one : 



" In March he leaves his search. 

 In April come he will, 

 In May he sings all day. 

 In June he changes his tune, 

 In July he's ready to fly ; 

 Come August, he must. 

 In September you'll him remember. 

 But October he'll never get over." 



And surely Mr. Witchell is wrong when he says 

 that the " cuckoo " is uttered by both sexes (p. 59, 

 Bird Songs and Calls). I have always regarded this 

 as specifically the male song or call, while " the 

 whittling or water-burbling note," as Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe well calls it, is that of the female ; and this 

 note, on being heard, draws all the males within 

 hearing to the point from which it issued. Mr. 

 Witchell himself, in the next paragraph, speaks of 

 this as the female note or call. 



My friend averred that, so far as his broad observa- 



