LESSON 12

THE CUCKOO

HAIL, beauteous stranger of the grove!

Thou messenger of spring!

Now Heaven repairs thy rural seat,

And woods thy welcome sing.

What time the daisy decks the green,

Thy certain voice we hear; —

Hast thou a star to guide thy path,

Or mark the rolling year?

Delightful visitant! with thee

I hail the time of flowers,

And hear the sound of music sweet

From birds among the bowers.

The school-boy, wandering through the wood

To pluck the primrose gay,

Starts, thy curious voice to hear,

And imitates thy lay.

What time the pea puts on the bloom,

Thou fliest the vocal vale,

An annual guest, in other lands

Another spring to hail.

Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,

Thy sky is ever clear;

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,

No winter in thy year.

Oh! could I fly, I’d fly with thee;

We’d make, with joyful wing,

Our annual visit o’er the globe,

Companions of the spring.

— MICHAEL BRUCE

PRONUNCIATION

beau´-te-ous　cer´-tain　wan´-der-ing　prim´-rose

mes´-sen　gerde-light´-ful　im´-i-tates　cu´-ri-ous

re-pairs´　vis´-it-ant　an´-nu-al　com-pan´-ions

DICTATION

The European cuckoo, like the swallow, is a bird of passage. It visits the British islands in April, and leaves about the beginning of July. It builds no nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds preferring that of the hedge sparrow.

The American cuckoo is a different bird. It builds a nest, and rears its own young.