416 cuculidj:. 



(Nat. Hist. Carol, i. p. 9, pi. ix.) as the "Cuckow of Caro- 

 lina ", and hence became known to the naturalists of the 

 last century ; but, except a few particulars (which prove to 

 he in the main correct and were apparently furnished by 

 Dr. Garden) published by Pennant (Arct. Zool. ii. p. 265), 

 little was known of its habits until the time of Wilson. 

 They have since been elucidated by a succession of American 

 ornithologists, and though of course more details remain to 

 be determined, the chief facts of its history are now as well 

 established as those relating to almost any bird, for the 

 species is plentiful in some places throughout most of the 

 eastern States of the Union, and is in them scarcely less an 

 object of interest than is our own Cuckow with us. 



Arriving in North America in the spring its loud cry, 

 cow, cow, cow, many times repeated, is heard from the 

 thickest foliage of the orchard, and as the bird is commonly 

 supposed to be most clamorous in anticipation of wet weather, 

 it in many parts of the country obtains the name of " Rain- 

 Crow."* The cocks, as usual, arrive first, and after a few 

 days are followed by the hens. They soon begin their nest, 

 which is generally built in a low tree, and consists of but a 

 scanty platform of dry twigs, artlessly bestrewn with a few 

 grass stalks. On this the hen lays her egg and, in most 

 cases it would appear, broods it at once, though laying eight 

 or ten more eggs subsequently, the young being hatched in suc- 

 cession (just as often happens with some Owls) and the later 

 fostered by the warmth of their earlier brethren. More than 

 four eggs are said to be seldom found in the nest at once, and 

 these will be in different stages of development, as is also 

 the case with the young. The parents, though delegating 

 part of their duty to the elder members of their family, are 

 surpassed by no birds in solicitude and affection for their 

 progeny. While the hen is sitting, the cock is usually not 

 far off and gives the alarm on the approach of danger, and, 

 when this is seriously threatened, one or both will try to with- 



* In Wilson's time it seems to have been also known as the "Cow-bird," but 

 that name is now generally applied to Mokthrus pecoris — the especially parasitic 

 bird of North America. 



