22 JUNE 1934, Page 17

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A Cuckoo Year

That too ingenious naturalist who argues that the cuckoo is a mule-hybrid, not truly either male or female, will perhaps claim the evidence of this year as support for his peculiar theory. Male cuckoos are in multitude and so far as my experience goes no one has heard a hen cuckoo or been sure of her existence. The paucity of hens is always remarkable in this queer and, it is alleged, polyandrous bird ; but probably there are more hens than is usually thought. The male cannot stop singing ; the hen utters her bubbling note very rarely