Cuckoo; Cheating By Nature

Sumer is icumen in,

Lhude sing cuccu!

Groweþ sed and bloweþ med

And springþ þe wde nu,

Sing cuccu!

So begins that best known of Middle English songs “Sumer is icumen in.” Not surprisingly in a song celebrating the emergence of the land from the darkness and cold of winter, the call of the cuckoo figures prominently.

Thus is seems similarly appropriate that this spring should see the publication by Bloomsbury of Nick Davies’ new book Cuckoo; Cheating by Nature. However unlike the celebratory tone of the old song, Mr. Davies new book takes a far more realistic view of the Cuckoo, delving deep into some of its less laudable behaviors – certainly not the sorts of things that become immortalized in song.