Note 25 — Dr. B. STEVENSON STANOYEVICH

The cuckoo (Kukavica), according to Serbian tradition, was a maiden who mourned so unceasingly for a dead brother, that she was changed into a bird, and thence continues without rest her melancholy note. A Serbian girl who has lost a brother never hears a cuckoo without shedding tears.—"I a poor cuckoo," is equivalent to "woe is me!" (S. J. B.)