The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-20
CUCKOO DAY

In parts of England the twentieth
 of April has long been known as Cuckoo Day." while in other sections the twenty-first is traditionally held to be the day on which that strange
 bird makes it's appearance, after a
 winter spent in its favorite resort in Africa. While. ornithology does not
 wholly support this theory. it is sub- stantially true, for the cuckoos of
 Europe conduct their flights on a schedule that never varies more than a few days. Such cuckoosj as are
 found on this side of the Atlantic are very different from the European
 bird. The cuckoo Of the old world,
 as is we'll known, deposits it's eggs in the nests of other birds, and the
 matching and rearing of the young cuckooS is entrusted to these foster
 parents. Only one egg is deposited in
 each nest, although the lady cuckoo lays several eggs in the course of the
 mating season. Being a strong and vigorous bird, with the instincts of a
 monopolist, the young cuckoo early
 drives from the nest the young birds who rightfully belong there, leaving them to starve, while he becomes the
 sole object of the solicitious care of the wronged parents. The American cuckoos are honest birds who build their own nests and rear their own young. y Many quaint traditios are connect ed with Cuckoo Day' in England, and in continental countries. The cuckoo is by many considered to have prophetic gifts One popular be-ief is that the young unmarried person wi rQ 11ir eli oAo ac the cuckoo first heard utters its love
 call. To the aged the number of
 calls portend the number of their
 years on earth. There is an old say ing that the cuckoo is so busy fore telling the future for humans that she hasn't time ito build a nest, or rear
 her young, and so has to foist these duties on sparrows, wrens, wagtails,
 titlarks, and other small birds. This
 whitewashing of the cuckoo's charac- ter will hardly hold, for it is only the
 male cuckoo who utter the peculiar cries, and the famel of the species has nothing to do with prophecy.
 1 Along the peasantry of some parts of Germany and the Scandinavian countries the old belief still persists that the cuckoo has supernatural qualities, and that 1t is a crime to kill it. For centuries English labor CTS considered it their right to quit labor on the day when the first cuc- koo was heard. and to spend the day getting gloriously drunk on a bever-
 age called cuckoo ale''
 The cuckoo was formerly supposed to4 leave England on the twenty-sixtfl of June, but ornithologists have found few old birds as late as the middle of July. It has been alleged that these remain behind in order to round up the youngsters who were not old enough to take part in the general southward migration. It is evident that the female cuckoo is
 quite aware that her habit of foisting
 her eggs on other varieties of birds 1 is scurvy trick, for she is extreme l ly surreptitious about the transaction
 and only the most patient of bird stu-
 dents have ever caught her in the act ! The young cuckoo's murderous evic-
 tion of the rightful tenants of the nest is also done in very sly man
 ner, when the parent birds are away
 from home. The famous Dr. Jenner
 the discoverer of vaccination, was the first to actually witness and describe
 thei young cuckoo's perfidy Hoistine
 his foster brothers and sisters, one af-
 ter another, on his broad back. the
 unfeeling and cruel intruder heayes l them overheard.