Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/37

 ii s. iv. JULY s, i9ii.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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But to-day, and fop the last three or four days their " sprightly note " has become almost nuisance, down here in Buckinghamshire. On the 27th instant [May] I saw nine cuckoos in th afternoon ; that is, I saw three at three separate intervals, but in districts a good way apart- they may have been the same three. * One, th< leader, was singing as he flew in each case ; tb others, as they flew after him, had a little spa in the air now and then. Yesterday we wer( having tea on the lawn. A lady remarked that although she had lived in the country all her life she had never seen a cuckoo. A few minutes afterwards a cuckoo flew over our heads singing as he came along. I was, of course, the first to see him, and to draw her attention to him. Words worth, I think speaks of the cuckoo as " though often heard, yet rarely seen " and again

O, blithe new-comer ! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice.

O Cuckoo, shall I call thee bird,

Or but a wandering voice ? The truth is the cuckoo can frequently be seen if watched and waited for. E. M.

It is absurd to say the cuckoo does not sing as he flies. I heard and saw him con- stantly up to about 15 June, and not again till 30 June, when he gave three " cucks " to one "koo," confirming the old rime "In June he changes his tune." E. MABSTON.

Farnham Royal.

The cuckoo "sings as it flies," and it "calls" when at rest, but country folk are not agreed as to whether it is the cock or the hen that calls "cuckoo," and some say it is the male, others the female ; while others say both sing, and that it may be either when a pair are seen flying together. When resting, a cuckoo may call once, but when it has taken wing, the call is usually " Cuck-oo, cuck-oo, cuck-oo " (thrice), fol- lowed by a pause, often of some length, or until it alights again. Such is the observa- tion of some who hear the bird's call three months in the year, and never fail to " turn their money " when hearing the call for the first time. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

CUCKOO RIMES (US. iii. 465}. I have never heard the rimes cited by Mr. RATCUFFE, but since my childhood have known the following :

In March he flies under the arch ;

In April he tunes his bill ;

In May he sings all day ;

In June he changes his tune ;

In July he away doth fly ;

In August go he must.

JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT.

MB. RATCLIFFE' s note brought to my mind a legend which I have never seen in print, but which, having been formerly well known in East Sussex, deserves to be re-

corded in 'N. & Q.' It is that the first cuckoo in this country was for a considerable time kept in captivity by a witch at Heath- field, Sussex. Eventually, on one 14th of April, whilst the witch was at Heathfield Fair, the bird escaped, and the story runs that in each year the cuckoo is first heard on Heath- field Fair day the anniversary of the escape. Heathfield Fair is locally known as " Cuckoo Fair," and oats sown in the district after the 14th of April are termed " cuckoo oats." R. VAUGHAN GOWEE. Perndale Lodge, Tunbridge Wells.

BONAB: THOMSON, BONAB & Co. (US. iii. 369, 457, 497). Anderson's ' Scottish Nation,' cited by S. H. P. at the second reference, is not an authority to be depended on in this matter, the account of the Bonar family containing sundry inaccuracies. Thomson Bonar of Thomson, Bonar & Co. was not the Thomson Bonar who married Andrew Bell's daughter.

John Bonar (1671-1747), minister at Torphichen, had inter alios two sons, John and Andrew. John (1696-1752) was minister at Fetlar; his son John (1721-61) was minister at Cockpen and Perth. This John had a son Thomson (1756-1814), who married first Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Bell, engraver, and secondly Mary, daughter of Archibald Laurie.

John of Torphichen' s son Andrew (1708- 1762) was a merchant and banker in Edin- 3urgh. He married Agnes, daughter of John Thomson, also a merchant there. He had a son Thomson (1742-1813), who married Ann, daughter of Andrew Thomson of Roehampton. This Thomson Bonar was a partner in Thomson, Bonar & Co. I relieve, one of the original partners. Mr. Thomson, the senior partner, was probably lis father-in-law, or a connexion of his nother or father-in-law. It was this Thomson Bonar who, along with his wife was murdered at Chislehurst in 1813. His son succeeded him in the business. He married a daughter of Guthrie of Halkerton.

What I want to ascertain is :

1. Who was Mr. Thomson of Roehamp- on, father of Mrs. Thomson Bonar, and enior partner of the firm circa 1775 ? Was he a relative of Mr. Thomson Bonar ? If o, how was he related ? I have seen it tated that her father was Andrew Poulett Thomson of Crichton (where ?) and of Goat- lurst in Somerset, and Thomson Bonar's incle. I should be glad of a reference to ny history of the family of Andrew Poulett 'homson or of the Pouletts.