Apart from singing in the spring plowing season, in the age before chemical pesticides the cuckoos also helped farmers by eating beetles, locusts and moths. This made them an even better candidate as the bird to urge farmers to plant their fields.
除了春耕時節鵑鳥啼，在沒有化學藥劑時代，杜鵑鳥以甲蟲、蝗蟲、飛蛾為主食，是農家的好幫手，也可能因此成為催耕的最佳候選「鳥」。