Why does the cuckoo sing? The secret of the bellows | Maiso...                  Handcrafted · Black Forest·VdS certified·Careful delivery

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 Published on **July 8, 2026** 

# Why does the cuckoo sing? The secret of the bellows

The cuckoo's song often intrigues visitors: how can a wooden object so faithfully reproduce the bird's call? The answer lies in a discreet mechanism, hidden behind the movement, yet modest in size and among the most characteristic of the Black Forest cuckoo.

## Two bellows, two notes

On a mechanical movement, two small bellows are activated every hour, and often at the half-hour. Each produces a different note as air passes through a small pipe, and the alternation of the two notes recreates the famous cuckoo song. The number of chimes indicates the hour, a simple but precise principle, directly inherited from traditional clockmaking. On some models, only the full hour triggers the song, while others add a single chime at the half-hour, a useful marker to recognize, by sound, the type of movement installed at home.

## A mechanism driven by the movement

The bellows do not operate alone: they are connected to the movement by a system of levers that automatically triggers at the programmed hour. It is the same energy, that of the weights descending along their chains, which simultaneously moves the hands forward, makes the bellows sing, and turns animated figurines like the water wheel.

## And on a quartz model?

Quartz models reproduce the same song, but in a recorded way: a miniature speaker broadcasts the sound every hour, without mechanical bellows. The result remains faithful to the original, with the advantage of a night sensor that automatically cuts the sound in the absence of light, which the bellows mechanism does not allow without manual intervention.

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