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Peacock : The Cuckoo — A Study. 



recognised as the cry of the Cuckoo, I believe. The first time 

 I heard it clearly and saw the bird, I startled a Cuckoo from 

 sunning- itself on the ground on the hedge bank of a wood, 

 and could hardly trust my ears and eyes. This cry, rarely 

 though it is recognised by anyone except labouring men, who 

 are always in the fields, has given, I believe, the second name 

 ' Gowk ' to the Cuckoo, for it exactly expresses the sound made 

 by the bird. The Rev. G. S. Streatfeild says that the place 

 called Gokewell Priory takes its name from the Cuckoo. It 

 comes from O. N. 'gaukr,' A. S. k geac,' a Cuckoo. The 

 Cuckoo is still known as the 'Gowk,' and the Owl as the 

 ' Glimmer-gowk,' in Lincolnshire. We have ' Herbertus Gowk' 

 in the Hundred Rolls, and the surname ' Gowk' has survived to 

 the present day. Lastly, there is a note seldom heard except 

 by countrymen and watchers who are on the look out for 

 it, which has been compared, not badly, with the blutter of the 

 Curlew. This note sometimes precedes, and sometimes follows, 

 the ordinary loud and mellow spring cry. It can be heard by 

 anyone almost on a May evening who w T ill hide himself away in 

 a wood or thicket, and 'Cuckoo-call' into his folded hands 

 'navvy-railway-whistle fashion,' if he has the wit to catch the 

 right pause and intonation. In half-an-hour he will have every 

 cock bird in the neighbourhood within a few yards of his hiding- 

 place, giving' him such a treat in the way of curious, not to say 

 ridiculous sounds, as he has ever heard from a bird's mouth. It 

 has been most fruitlessly rendered by words, and is really quite 

 beyond the reach of such artificial modes of reproduction. It is 

 a kind of churning, chuckling, gurgling sound produced by the 

 tongue and throat together with constant changes in the in- 

 flection of the voice, during which the throat seems disturbed. 

 I have a brother, known to some of you, who in youth was an 

 adept at ' Cuckoo-calling,' and who could take these curious 

 notes to perfection. On one well-remembered occasion he 

 rendered them so remarkably well that we both laughed aloud 

 at the facial contortions required for their perfect reproduction, 

 and frightened six birds away for the night. The young birds 

 have a plaintive chirp, said to be like that of their foster-parents. 

 I should certainly not have recognised it as an imitative note. 



The Cuckoo is a very shy bird, avoiding observation as much 

 as possible. It frequents woods and bushes, or broken and 

 rough ground, and may almost be called an arboreal bird. It is 

 never found very far away from water, as it has a great and 

 frequent thirst. It is very fond of resting on the ground among 



Naturalist, 



