156 THE Brrps Asout Us. 
appearance the parents are fully aroused to their re- 
sponsibilities and look well after them; supply in- 
numerable cater- 
pillars and every 
discoverable form 
of uncanny slug; 
and when you 
happen to go too 
near the nest, the 
old birds will go 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. into hysterics, or 
make believe to, 
hoping to completely fool you as to the whereabouts 
of the nest. 
Wilson speaks of this habit as follows: 

«‘ While the female is sitting the male is generally not far distant, 
and gives the alarm by his notes when any person is approaching. 
The female sits so close that you may almost reach her with your 
hand, and then precipitates herself to the ground, feigning lameness, 
to draw you away from the spot, fluttering, trailing her wings, and 
tumbling over in the manner of the partridge, woodcock, and many 
other species. Both parents unite in providing food for the young. 
This consists for the most part of caterpillars, particularly such as 
infest apple-trees. The same insects constitute the chief part of their 
own sustenance.” 
The Black-billed Cuckoo has always been, in my 
experience, a lover of willow-trees that overhung the 
water. This, of course, is a mere coincidence, but I 
have never failed to find them, I believe, while wan- 
dering about the creeks that have so generally a row 
of pollards on one or both banks, or among the 
weeping-willows that fringe the mill-ponds. From 
trees on the water’s edge the cuckoos will dart out 
