THE CUCKOO. 141 



On his librating wing he was oft seen apart, 

 And appear'd on his prey ever ready to dart. 



involved in considerable obscurity. See the Hedge-Sparrow's 

 Complaint. 



The Song itself is too well known to require description, 

 being similar to its name cuckoo ; although, I think, it ap- 

 proaches rather nearer to the name given to it in Somersetshire, 

 Gookoo. It is almost always clear and distinct for some time 

 after its arrival; but, towards the close of the season, there is 

 considerable hesitation in the utterance of the notes ; thus, 

 instead of cuckoo being repeatedly and distinctly uttered, crick, 

 cuck, is often repeated in an indistinct tone, before the koo 

 which follows. 



The cuckoo usually sings during the day} but, on May 1st, 

 J822, the Nightingale and Cuckoo were heard to sing at Shefford, 

 in Bedfordshire, the whole night through, by Mr. Inskip, of 

 Shefford, as he believed, in competition ; Robert Bloomfield, 

 then resident also at Shefford, was likewise a witness of this 

 extraordinary fact, an allusion to which will be found in the 

 "Remains" of that poet lately published, as well as several 

 other curious particulars concerning birds, under the head of 

 the Bird and Insects' Post-Office, which every lover of Natural 

 History should peruse. See also the Examiner for May 26, 

 1822, where it is also stated, that the cuckoo was heard several 

 times during the same season as late as ten or eleven o'clock at 

 night. It is scarcely necessary to add, that these are, in this 

 country, rare occurrences. I heard the cuckoo in Greenwich- 

 Park, May 22, 1826, at nearly nine o'clock at night, one hour 

 after sun-set. 



The assertion of Montagu, whose accuracy may in general be 

 relied on, that the cuckoo almost invariably leaves us the fi rst 

 day of July, is very incorrect. It is seen much later than that, 

 very often in August, although it does not sing in that month. 



I once had an opportunity of seeing, in Somersetshire, a 



