Common cuckoo Common cuckoo The common cuckoo ("Cuculus canorus") is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, "Cuculiformes", which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. It is a brood parasite, which means it lays eggs in the nests of other bird species, particularly of dunnocks, meadow pipits, and reed warblers. Although its eggs are larger than those of its hosts, the eggs in each type of host nest resemble the host's eggs. The adult too is a mimic, in its case of the sparrowhawk;
The Cuckoo (song) The third verse is the standard "Cuckoo is a pretty bird" and after an adapted floating verse: If I were a clerk And I could write a good hand I would write to my true love So that she'd understand That I am a young fellow Who is wounded in love Once I lived in Buncloudy But now must remove. The song ends in a sad verse about emigration. There is a fine recording of this song from Luke Kelly of The Dubliners. The cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) was until recent times a common visitor to the English countryside in spring