CUCULID^. 341 



frogs ; they feed^ likewise^ on berries and fruits, 

 and are accused of sucking tlie eggs of other birds. 

 In tlieir migrations northwards they move singly, 

 but when returning to warmer latitudes they appear 

 to be gregarious, flying high in the air, and in loose 

 flocks. 



The best-known species is — 



The Carolina Cuckoo {CoccyzusAmericanus). A stranger 

 who visits the United States for the purpose of examining 

 their natural productions, and passes through the woods 

 in the month of May or June, will sometimes hear, as he 

 traverses the borders of deep, retired, high-timbered hol- 

 lows, an uncouth guttural sound or note, resembling the 

 syllables howe, kowe, koim, koive, kowe I beginning slowly, 

 but ending so rapidly that the notes seem to run into 

 each other. He will hear this frequently without being 

 able to discover from whence it proceeds, as the bird pro- 

 ducing it is both shy and solitary, always seeking the 

 thickest foliage for concealment. From the sound of its 

 note it is known in many parts by the name of the 

 "Cow-bird;" it is also called in Vu-ginia the "Rain- 

 crow," being observed to be most clamorous immediately 

 before ram. 



This bird (unlike the European Cuckoo) builds its own 

 nest, hatches its own eggs, rears its own young, and in 

 conjugal and parental affection seems nowise behind any 

 of its neighbours of the grove. Early in May they begin 

 to pan, when obstinate battles take place among the 

 males. The nest is usually fixed among the horizontal 

 branches of an apple-tree, sometimes in a solitary thorn, 

 crab, or cedar, in some retired part of the woods ; it is 

 constr\icted with little art, and scarcely any concavity, of 

 small sticks and twigs, intermixed with green weeds and 

 blossoms of the common maple. On this almost flat bed 

 the eggs, usually three or four in number, are placed : 

 these are of an uniform greenish-blue colour, and of a 

 size proportionable to that of the bird. While the female 

 is sitting, the male is generally not far distant, and gives 

 the alarm by his notes when any person is approaching. 

 The female sits so close that you may almost reach her 

 with your hand, and then 2:>recipitates herself to the 

 ground, feigning lameness to draw you away from the 



