26 JUNE 1909, Page 33

[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR. "] [To THE EDITOR Or

THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The letter in your issue of June 12th interests me very ranch, and I would write to the writer if I had his address, as Thy remarks may not appeal to your general readers. The sweetness of the cuckoo's note is peculiar; there is no other so musical. Some years back I had the opportunity, and tested it by the help of a good piano. It was at Combo Bay Rouse, near Bath. The secret of the sweetness of the cuckoo's note is that he sings in the key of D flat, which is the sweetest of all keys. The notes are F natural to D flat, a third. These are the notes of a cuckoo in good tune in the prime of his !Bice at the end of May. In June, and in some circumstances, he will sing not in full tune; but I think, as a rule, these are !lie notes without exception. I am sorry to say that this year is exceptionally cold and backward, and in this locality I have heard the note very rarely, and only in the distance. Let Say one with a piano handy test the notes and he will find P natural to D flat is the song of a first-rate cuckoo. They