116 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



birds were very noticeable at ray home, yet in the whole 

 month we had no rain there. On the night of the 23d of 

 June, while I was out in the open air at 9:30, watching an 

 ominous cloud that was rolling up in the west, the weird 

 notes of a rain-crow fell on my ears like the exultant 

 laugh of a storm demon. However, the omen failed, for 

 the threatening cloud passed over, and left us as dry as 

 we were before its appearance. Usually the guttural calls 

 of these birds are the only indications of their presence. 

 Frequently, however, one is seen flying toward grove or 

 tree with graceful, level flight, uttering its notes as it 

 nears its stopping-place. They generally fly low, the line 

 of flight commonly being no higher than the middle point 

 of the foliage of average-sized elms and maples. 



The yellow-billed cuckoo inhabits all the United States, 

 but it is found in limited numbers in the extreme west 

 and north, for its range appears to tend towards the east 

 and south. In central and southern Illinois it largely pre- 

 ponderates over its black-billed relative, which seems to 

 complement the range of the former by increasing in 

 abundance toward the north, though both are generally 

 found in the same locality in the United States. The 

 black-billed species appears to preponderate from Penn- 

 sylvania northward, extending its habitat into Labrador. 

 These tardy birds seldom arrive in this region (39 degrees, 

 20 minutes) earlier than the first of May, and frequently 

 they linger on their way, and we note their absence until 

 the middle of May. Exceptionally early migrants, how- 

 ever, sometimes come to us in the last week of April. 



In their nidification the cuckoos are famous for their ir- 

 regular and slovenly habits. The interval between the 

 laying of the successive eggs is often so prolonged that 

 frequently the eggs earliest deposited are hatched when 

 the later eggs are yet fresh. Nests are found containing 

 eggs in various stages of incubation, and sometimes the 

 eggs of both species are laid in one nest. Both species are 

 occasionally parasitic, dropping an Q^rg now and then into 

 the nest of another bird, though' their own nests have al- 

 ready been constructed. The period of nesting in this 

 locality extends from the first of June to the middle of 

 September, and doubtless two broods are often reared. 1 



