480 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



tate themselves to the ground, fluttering, tumbling, and feigning lameness, in 

 the manner of many other affectionate and artful birds, to draw the intruder 

 away from the vicinity of the brood. At such times, the mother also utters 

 the most uncouth guttural sounds as she runs along the ground. While the 

 female is engaged in sitting on her charge, the male takes his station at no 

 great distance, and gives alarm by his notes, on the approach of an intruder. 

 When the young are hatched, both unite in the labor of providing them with 

 food. He subsequently states that these birds hatch several broods in a 

 season, which he inferred from the fact of his meeting with a nest contain- 

 ing eggs as late as the 28th of August. He also speaks of finding in one 

 instance an escs of the Cuckoo laid in the nest of a Catbird, and in another 

 instance (June 15) an egg in the nest of a Eobiu. Such instances must, 

 however, be very rare. No other writer mentions any similar instance, and 

 none have ever fallen under my observations. 



Mr. Gosse, in his Birds of Jamaica, describes the Yellow-bill as among 

 the birds of that island, speaks of it as among the regular visitants in spring, 

 but makes no mention of its breeding there. 



Mr. Edward Newton, in his paper on the birds of St. Croix (Ibis, 1859, 

 p. 149), gives an interesting account of its breeding in that locality. He adds 

 his testimony to the general credit given to this species for the conjugal 

 affection they evince. On one occasion, he says, a male having been shot, 

 and shrieking as it fell, the 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 2, 1858, he shot a 

 female of this species, liaving an egg in her ovary nearly ready for exclusion ; 

 it was quite soft, but had its proper color. On the 29th of the same month, 

 while riding, he saw the white terminal spots of a Cuckoo's tail projecting 

 from a small nest on a manchineel that overhung the path. It was built 

 in a very open situation, and the bird, as he rode underneath, was not more 

 than a yard above his head. She sat with nearly all her neck and breast out- 

 side the nest, which was only just large enough to contain the eggs. She did not 

 fly off until after he had tied up the pony hard by, and liad almost touched her 

 with his whip. There were three eggs, laid side by side in a row% along which 

 the bird had been sitting. The nest was at some distance from the stem of 

 the tree, and placed loosely on the bougli. It was a mere platform of small 

 sticks laid one across another, with a few finer twigs and a little grass as a 

 lining ; so slightly was it put together, that, on attempting to take it from the 

 tree, it fell to pieces. 



No writer besides Mr. Audubon makes any mention of, or appears to have 

 been aware of, the peculiar habits of these birds in hatching out their succes- 

 sive depositions of eggs, one by one. In this respect they are eccentric, and 

 do not always exhibit this trait. While I have repeatedly observed facts 

 exactly corresponding with those noticed by Mr. Audubon in the garden of 

 Mr. Rhett, at other times I have found in the opening of the season three or 



