86 ORNITHOLOCxY AND OOLOGY. 



seems to delight in the more retired and wooded locali- 

 ties. 



In flight, the Black-billed Cuckoo is more swift than the 

 other ; in breeding habits, the same ; and its food is similar, 

 consisting principally of insects and their larvae, small fruits, 

 and the eggs and young of small birds. Like the other, the 

 Black-billed Cuckoo is very cowardly, and is quickly driven 

 from the neighborhood of the nest of almost any of the 

 other birds. If a robin, or other bird of equal size, discover 

 one of these, to him pirates, in the vicinity of his nest, he 

 immediately assaults the intruder, with loud outcries, poun- 

 cing upon him, and pecking with great ferocity. Others of 

 his neighbors, who are near, join in the attack : the Cuckoo, 

 in retreating, dives into the recesses of a stone wall, or the 

 first secure retreat available ; very seldom taking to his 

 wings, as another bird would do. I have known of a cuckoo 

 being driven into a barn by a Blue-bird {S. sialis'), who sat 

 perching on a fence outside for several minutes, keeping his 

 enemy prisoner ; and the latter, when pursued and captured 

 by myself, preferred being my prisoner to facing his enemy 

 outside. 



The nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo is usually placed in 

 a low tree or barberry-bush. It is constructed of twigs, 

 roots, and sometimes a few leaves and moss. I have exam- 

 ined a great number of these, from different sections ; and I 

 have noticed that those from northern localities were inva- 

 riably lined with gray moss, called Spanish moss, and leaves, 

 while others, from more southern districts,, were without 

 such linings. 



The eggs are usually four in immber : they are of a darker 

 greenish-blue than those of the other bird, and average a 

 little smaller ; their length varying from 1 to 1.12 inch, by 

 from .84 to .92 inch in breadth. 



The shell of these eggs is always quite thin and fragile, 

 much more so than that of the others. 



