Previous birds of the month can be found here. Most recently: The Raven. When I speak of the cuckoo, I do not speak of jewelled marvels like this one:

(Male Asian Emerald Cuckoo)

There are many such cuckoos, each weirder, brighter and more extravagantly-tailed than the last. Our business is not with them. Our business is only with the cuckoo from which all cuckoos take their name: the common…