320 



CITIZEN BIRD 



Below white, with a blue belt across the breast, and the female 

 with a brown belt also. 



A Citizen of North America. 



Belonging to no useful guild, but a rather startling, amusing 

 neighbor, who always minds his own business and is an indus- 

 trious fislierman. 



''What was the 

 other bird, ^vho 

 cried, ' kiik kiik ! ' 

 on tlie outside of 

 the woods? There, 

 it is calling again ! 

 ]*m sure that it is 

 a Woodpecker ! " 



" Wrong again 



— it is a Cuckoo ; 



the Yellow - billed 



one, I think, for 



the voice is louder 



iiarsher than that of his 



■l)illcd l)rother." 



^ What I a little blue and 



White bird like the one that 



bobs out of mother's carved 



clock at home? Oh, do let 



us try to find it ! But this bird didn't say 



• cuckoo ' ; it only cackled something like a 



Hen when she is tired of sitting." 



" The clock Cuckoo is an imitation of the merry, 



heedless English bird, who la3^s her eggs in the wrong 



nests, as our Cowbird does. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo 



is quite different, being long, slender, and graceful, 



