102 
NATURE NOTES. 
itself after its long sleep and basking in the glorious sun ; the 
buds burst, the leaves expand, there is a crackle in the air, 
telling of renewed life, which is most enjoyable. On a day like 
this there is a peculiar delight in this hilly country', a sense of 
health and freedom, the delight of drinking large draughts of 
pure unbreathed air, the breezy exhilaration born of wade 
prospects and towering heights. 
Already the promise of IMa}' may be seen in the field and 
the hedgerow ; the dandelion, one of the earliest and handsomest 
of our wild flowers, if familiarity did not breed contempt, is in 
bloom. The falling catkins of birch and alder and willow are 
littering the footpath before their leaves have unfolded. Over all 
the lark trills its song, rising and falling in joyful cadence, 
revelling in the return of spring, so that it seems as though its 
little throat would burst in a vain endeavour to pour forth a 
louder strain. 
The birds fly from beneath the bushes disturbed b)' the 
dogs ; there goes a chiff-chaff to a neighbouring thorn, chirping 
its well known note ; a thrush utters its frantic cry of indignation 
at being disturbed in its search for snails ; the flute-like whistle 
of the blackbird is heard from the hawthorns that skirt the 
wood ; a deeper thrill runs through his notes when they are 
muffled and lowered to a throbbing undertone. The song is 
simple, sensuous, perfect as a verse of Herrick, with the same 
mixture of unconscious pathos and careless delight in the wild 
freshness of morning. 
But hark ! there is that dissolute bird with the half human 
voice which reiterates its name, cuckoo ! cuckoo ! No bird 
has probably been more written about and is less understood. 
Volumes have been written on its habits and its distribution ; 
and 3’et for all its winter migrations and other eccentricities of 
conduct the cuckoo is one of the most popular of English birds. 
It is nevertheless strange how few- people have seen a cuckoo 
or know anything of its habits, beyond the fact that it is a 
brown bird with a speckled breast, about the size of a hawk, 
with a peculiar and unmistakable cry, and communistic notions 
respecting the rights of other birds to call their nests their own. 
This seems to sum up the extent of popular knowledge. As for 
the country people, they are more interested in the supernatural 
pow'ers which the superstitions of ages have woven around it, 
than in solving an}’ of the moot problems in its career. 
The cuckoo arrives about the loth .\pril, seldom earlier, the 
males arriving first and taking up their quarters — which by the 
way are permanent during their stay — some days before the 
females. That is one of the many differences between this 
curious bird and the whole of the rest of the bird-world. It 
remains within short range of the selected spot until its 
departure, and you will hear the same cuckoo day after day in 
the same field, or on the margin of the same wood. It is other- 
wise with the females. They appear to be always on the wing. 
