Cuckoos were thought to bring fine weather, although in Yorkshire it was said to be a sign of rain if they called repeatedly. They also brought good luck or bad luck, depending on what the hearer was doing on hearing the first call of the season. In Wales, it was lucky to hear a cuckoo call while standing on grass, but bad luck if you were on barren ground. Some people believed that if they turned over money in their pockets when a cuckoo called, and then spat on it the money would last till the end of the year. Other said that the hearer would continue to do what they were doing until the end of the year. So if he was in bed, he was probably fated to become ill. Before bird migration was properly understood, many people believed that the cuckoo turned into a hawk during winter, or hibernated in a fairy hill.