BOWER

Cuckoo

“Oh, the cuckoo, she’s a pretty bird; she sings as she flies
She bringeth good tidings; she telleth no lies
She sucketh white flowers for to keep her voice clear
And the more she singeth “cuckoo” the summer draweth near”

For Europeans, the cuckoo is a bird of spring, its familiar call marking its return from central Africa. After the breeding season, the cuckoo begins its long journey south flying across the Sahara to winter around the Congo rainforest before migrating north again with the coming of spring.