specially fine morning in May, of which I have clear recollection, T went out at five o'clock to find that not a single egg had been laid. Neither were the birds to be seen about any of the nests. I need not say that before I went out there had been about two hours of broad daylight. This experience of the habits of birds was new to me at that time, and I have not hitherto seen anything touching upon the matter in any of the journals.—J.W. Payne (Edinburgh).
Popular Fallacies concerning the Cuckoo.—A propos of the paragraph which appeared on this question in 'The Zoologist' for November (1897, p. 512), perhaps you may consider the Northumbrian version of this rhyme of sufficient interest for insertion. Although it does not differ materially from that in use in the midlands, several little dissimilarities will be noticed. Thus:—
"The Cuckoo is a pretty bird,
She whistles as she flies;
She brings us good tidings,
And tells us no lies.
She sucks little birds' eggs
To make her voice clear,
And never says 'cuckoo'
Till summer is near."
This is well known to, and repeated by, almost every school-boy in these parts; another equally popular rhyme being: —
"In Aperill she shows her bill,
In May she sings both night and day,
In June she changes her tune,
In July away she must fly,
In August go she must."
The reference to the departure in August must be taken as applying to old birds only (and those are they which sing), for young ones remain with us several weeks longer; but how true is the allusion to the change in the song as summer advances! and how admirably is that change expressed in Heywood's lines:—
"In Aprill the Koocoo can sing her song by rote,
In June of tune she cannot sing a note;
At first koo-coo, koo-coo, sing still she can do,
At last kooke, kooke, kooke; six kookes to one koo."
The "sucking of little bird's eggs" is generally accepted in the north, and I think rightly so, though positive evidence upon the point is always difficult to obtain when wanted. To instance a single case within my own experience, I may mention that one day, a good many years ago, I recollect
