CUCKOO 
179 
CUCKOO. 
{Cuculus canorus,) 
Gowk. — The Cuckoo is one of the most 
welcome of spring's newcomers, as well as one 
of the strangest of all birds in its nesting habits. 
The familiar cry is generally to be heard in most 
parts of the country about the twelfth of April, 
while, according to the popular rhyme, " in June 
he changes his tune " to the three-fold " cuck- 
cuck-oo." In some summers, however, his voice 
is unbroken to the end, while the three-fold note 
may be heard occasionally at any time in the 
season. There is also a loud bubbling or choking 
cry. The hen Cuckoo begins to lay about the 
end of April ; she deposits her eggs upon the 
ground and carries them to the selected nest in her 
bill. A single bird lays from five to eight eggs, 
but puts them into different nests ; when two 
Cuckoos' eggs are found in one nest they have 
probably therefore been laid by two different birds. 
A great number of different small birds are chosen 
as foster-parents, and since the young even of 
hard-billed birds are fed upon soft insect food, the 
young Cuckoo receives the right kind of nursing 
even at the hands of Finches, and other seed-eating 
species. The commonest nests to be chosen by 
N 2 
