E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Welsh Ambassador (The).
The cuckoo. Logan, in his poem To the Cuckoo calls it the “messenger of Spring”; but the Welsh ambassador means that the bird announces the migration of Welsh labourers into England for summer employment.
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“Why, thou rogue of universality, do I not know thee? This sound is like the cuckoo, the Welshambassador.”—Dampet: A Trick to Catch the Old One, iv. 5.
