320 LAND-BIPvDS. 



consist of a cotton rag, which was firmly caught in the thorns 

 of a barberry bush. The eggs, which in many cases are laid 

 at irregular intervals, average 1.25 X .87 of an inch, and are 

 light greenish blue, but rarely or never elliptical. 



Fig. 17. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. (^) 



c. The Yellow-billed Cuckoos have evidently become very 

 much less common near Boston than they once were, and are 

 now considered rare in many if not all parts of New England. 

 In general habits they are closely allied to the more common 

 Black-billed Cuckoos, whose habits will be fully detailed in 

 the next biograi)hy. They differ chiefly in having a rather 

 less rapid flight, a greater fondness for high, dry, and wooded 

 lands, and a somewhat different diet. Their habit of laying- 

 eggs at intervals of several days, also observable in the other 

 species, is enough to distinguish them from nearly all our 

 other land-birds. It is not rare to find their nest containing 

 both young and eggs at very different stages of development. 

 I once found a Robin's nest in the same condition, but such a 

 case w^as wholly exceptional. The female Cuckoo, w^hen ap- 

 proached while on her nest, usually sits bravely, but finally 

 throws herself upon the ground, and flutters away, uttering 

 piteous and uncouth sounds, which can hardly fail to distract 

 the attention of an egg-hunter ; but this device rarely succeeds, 

 and is resorted to too late. 



d. The notes of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo do not differ 

 distinctly from those of the Black-biUed species, though often 

 harsher. 



