56 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



about eleven feet up, through which I could see with ease; it was 

 composed of small pine twigs, about an eighth of an inch in diameter 

 and averaging six or eight inches long, and was much more concave 

 than I had expected. This shallow saucer was neatly, though quite 

 thinly lined with a few pine needles, a small quantity of Spanish 

 moss and several tiny buds." 



George B. Sennett (1879) says that in the Lower Rio Grande 

 region of Texas "ebony trees near the ranch, mesquites among cac- 

 tuses, thorny bushes in open chaparral, and open woodland, were 

 favored breeding places." 



Wright and Harper (1913) found a well-made nest in Okefinokee 

 Swamp, in a tupelo tree at the margin of the Suwannee. "It was 

 placed in a cluster of mistletoe on a horizontal branch four feet above 

 the water, and consisted of sticks interwoven with Spanish 'moss' 

 {Till and si a usneoides).'''' 



Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1896) gives the measurements of four 

 nests; the average height of the nests was 4 inches, and the greatest 

 outside diameters averaged 7.63 by 6.2.5 inches. 



Both species of North American cuckoos often lay their eggs in 

 each other's nests. The eggs of the yellow-billed cuckoo have been 

 found several times in nests of the robin and catbird. H. P. Attwater 

 (1892) writes: "In 1884 I found a Dickcissel's nest which contained 

 five eggs and one Yellow-billed Cuckoo's egg. The next year some 

 boys brought me three Black-throated Sparrow's eggs and one Yel- 

 low-billed Cuckoo's, from the same field, which they said they found 

 all together in one nest." J. L. Davison (1887) says: "I also found 

 a nest of Menila migratoria^ taken possession of by Coccyzus ameri- 

 canus before it was finished, which was filled nearly full of rootlets ; 

 and in this condition the Robin laid one eQ:g and the Cuckoo laid two 

 and commenced incubation, when a Mourning Dove {Zenaulura 

 macroura) also occupied it and laid two eggs and commenced incuba- 

 tion with the Cuckoo. I foimd both birds on the nest at the same 

 time, when I secured nest and eggs. The eggs of the Robin and 

 Cuckoo were slightly incubated; those of the Mourning Dove were 

 fresh." 



Bendire (1895) adds the wood thrush, cedar waxwing, and cardinal 

 to the list of birds that have been imposed upon, and says: "Such 

 instances appear to be much rarer, however, than those in which 

 they interlay with each other, and the majority of these may well 

 be due to accident, their own nest having possibly been capsized, and 

 necessity compelled the bird to deposit its egg elsewhere. Such 

 instances do occur at times with species that can not possibly be 

 charged with parasitic tendencies." 



Marcia B. Clay (1929) thus describes the cuckoo's method of 

 gathering twigs for her nest : 



