Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-10-25
CUCKOO FOLK LORE.
curious Ideas, Beliefs and Facts Ab.su
 the Strange Bird.

Curious Ideas, Beliefs and Facts Ah.su
 the Strange Bird.
 He must be well read man who caI
 exhaust the subject of cuckoo folk lore
 No bird IS so much noticed by rustic,
 and round no other bird have so many
 curious fancies crystallized. Like the
 goose, several familiar plants are named
 from 1t and when it has once arrived il
 must eat three meals of cherries. ac
 cording to the folk lore, before it ceases it's song, while
 The first cock O hay
 Flights the cuckoo away
 And then Cafter St. Johns day) he
 turns into 6 hawk AlInost every game keeper at the present day shoots
 cuckoos in consequence of this belief.
 although ha could not we'll spare them.
 inasmuch aS the cuckoo sucks little
 birds eggs to make her voice clear. "
 In Yorkshire this bird influences agri-
 culture:
 When cuchoO calls on the bsret horn
 Sell your COW and buy your corn.
 Woe betide you if you do not turn the money in your pocket on first hear ing the birdl If you have plenty of coins at that time endless good fortune will follow you throughout the year. and any wish within reasonable limits will then be granted Here is another farmers proverb, the interpretation of which is self evident:
 Cuckoo oats and woodcock hay
 aake farmer run away
 Not only does the cuckoo prognosti- cate length of life, but what is still more interesting it is able to tell maid ems how many years they will remain unmarried A pretty Bohemian super stition accounts for the fact of the cuckoo building no nest, but laying her own egg ill that of a linnet or hedge sparrow On the feast of the Annun- citation, 1t seems, old custom prescribed that birds should leave off building their nests; the cuckoo was an excep- ton, and worked as usual. It was therefore cursed and deprived of hus- band. Some may be glad to know that they can insure themselves against lum- oaSo the rest of the year by rolling over and over in the grass the first time the cuckoo is heard. Its note is pro- verbally mCnOtOnous, and the Scotch have a saying, We're like the cuckoo. ye hae but one song" Its depositing its egg in strange nest and leaving it there to be matched is the origin of rather forced jokes on its | name-''A word of fear, unpleasant to l B husbands ear"
 In the ancient system of medicine the cuckoo was bird of much value | The body of a cuckoo, for instance. next the body in q hareskin caused | sleep. These are samples of the genius tor the marvellous which so dominated | mems minds in the Middle ages. and | which still remains in out of the way districts. The strange habits of the 'uckoo tended to the formation of these myths, and nothing could be too wild 'r extravagant to father on so curious l bird
 And yet the facts of the cuckoo's life md economy are so curious that no in- 'enrlve powers are required to heighten he birds attractiveneSs. It is SUD- 'osed that the males considerably out lumber the females, and that the lat CT do not sing. The cuckoo is a para ltical bird, leaving its eggs to be latchei and it's young to be reared by oster parents. Two birds, belonging to North and South Amer ga, somewhat akin to our starling Molothrus pecoris and M niger pos ess analogous habits, and with the uekOos are the only birds which fasten. s 1t were, on another bird, upon whose pod they live and whose death would | lvolve theirs during the period of in incy. Another fact has been discovered in gard to this. It is found that the fe- l lale cuckoo lays her egg, not in the est which she selects, but on the round - sometimes close. at other mes some little distance from the | then transports it in her bill | ( the nest where she desires to leave Professor Newton remarks that 1 i lckoos have occasionally been shot l hile thus carrying their eggs, and { links, with much show of reason. that IS custom has probably given rise to le belief that they suck the eggs of I, her birds; to which we would add le cOrroborative fact that they are [ mObbed by other birds as ] they were mischievous robbers. The -g, as most school boys know, is very F lriable in color. s When it is matched the young cuckoo V eedily thrusts out its foster parents gs, and even any young ones, shoul- sI ring them, as it were, on its back, as $ inner (who actually saw the process) scrlbeS 1t, and then throwing them d It of the nest with jerk Most resi- v nts in the country must have noticed e ungainly looking young cuckoo 5, ter it has flown from the nest, resting F the lawn or on tree in a helpless, m gging attitude, nOisily calling for d, Od, which is always faithfully sup p' ed by it's foster mother, even when IIec rself but little water wagtail This n; ntraSt between the pair in size and h. is ludicrous and striking. - ter some time the young cuckoo fol ys its kind to the south, the old ones ways going flrst.-Cor St. James