on the Bh'ds of St. Croix. 149 



only four, the nest having probably been robbed by boys from a 

 Negro village close by. On July 2nd there were eight eggs ; but 

 a few days afterwards the nest was entirely destroyed. I never 

 found the eggs, as if intentionally covered up. The nest was 

 evidently common property; there were generally two or three 

 birds sitting close to or on it, and up in the tree perhaps four or 

 five more, who would continue screeching all the time I was there. 

 I found the yelks of the eggs just as described by Mr. Hill in 

 Mr. Gosse^s 'Birds of Jamaica ;' but on blowing them into a basin 

 of water, they appeared to me to assume a spherical form. When 

 the egg is fresh, the cretaceous deposit on the shell is very soft 

 and easily scored ; but it soon hardens considerably.^^ — A. N. 



23. Yellow-billed American Cuckoo. Coccyzus ameri- 

 canus, Bp. Cuculus carolinensis, Wils. iv. pi. 28. fig. 1 ; Aud. 

 pi. 275 ; Gould, B. Eur. pi. 242 ; Yarr. B. B. ed. 2. vol. ii. p. 204. 



This occasional straggler to England seems to be confined, at 

 least in the breeding-season, to one locality on the south side of 

 St. Croix, — a level piece of land, overgrown with low bush, and 

 interspersed with a few trees, mostly Mauchioneels, through 

 which runs a small stream bordered here and there by bits of 

 swampy ground, which in dry weather are so many warrens of 

 Land-crabs, and surrounded by a few Mangroves. Here its 

 harsh guttural call may very often be heard. It is a tame and 

 stupid-looking bird, but, contrary to the supposed habits of 

 most of the family, appears to show much conjugal affection ; for 

 on one occasion a male being shot, and shrieking as it fell, a 

 female instantly flew to the spot, and fluttered along the ground 

 in the manner that an old hen Partridge or other bird would do 

 to lead astray the pursuer of her young. 



" On June 2nd, 1858, I shot a female of this species, having 

 an egg in her ovary, nearly ready for exclusion ; it was quite soft, 

 but had got its proper colour. In the gizzard of this bird were 

 the remains of two large caterpillars, and a univalve shell. On 

 the 29th of the same month, while riding in the locality above 

 referred to, I saw the white terminal spots of a Cuckoo's tail pro- 

 jecting from a small nest on a Manchioneel that overhung the 

 path. It was built in a very open situation ; and the bird, as I 



VOL. I. M 



