Posted by Robert Hill on April 01, 2009 at 16:56:02 user eclrh.
In Reply to: Re: The Nature Books discussion posted by Dave Thewlis on March 31, 2009 at 19:09:06:
This rhyme has been discussed on TarBoard before, most recently a year or so ago, if I remember correctly. Variants of it were well known when I was a child. The version I learned went
In April, come she will,
In May, she sings all day,
In June, she changes her tune,
In July, she's ready to fly,
In August, go she must.
But I remember from previous discussions that in some versions the cuckoo is male. And in fact, the familiar two-note cuckoo call is only sung by the male; I think the female makes a sort of bubbling sound.