Different name

Your correspondent Donal Hickey (May 16) described “scaraveen na gcuach” as garbh mí na gcuach.

The correct Irish is “garbh shion na guach”, which is the rough “weather of the cuckoo”, as it does not last the whole month.

There is also a period of hard weather in early March called “laethanta na bo riabhche” which tends to kill off the old brindle cow after a hard winter. My father, who was a native Irish speaker, was the source of this information.