EVCKOOC. NOTES. 137 
us of rain, as many good people think, by ut- 
tering its notably strange cry, once heard 
never forgotten; but yet it is on the northern 
margin of the sub-tropic, among the dry, warm 
hills of Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, 
that Coccygus most loves to dwell. 
A cuckoo’s nest is a very simple affair—at 
first glance, a mere amorphous jumble of 
twigs, catkins and leaf-ribs, apparently tossed 
at hap-hazard on a low bough; but it will bear 
close study, for its architecture is characteris- 
tic of the bird’s strange genius. How does 
such a loose pile of sticks maintain its place 
during a heavy wind? Careful examination 
discloses a system of deftest weaving instead 
of a careless or chance arrangement. The 
work of a genius may appear rough and dis- 
jointed when in fact the subtlest art has made 
it look so for the deepest purpose. We may 
never determine how near is the relation be- 
tween the rarest human intelligence and the 
instinct of animals, but I have not yet seen 
the man who could build a cuckoo’s nest ! 
From the Ohio valley down into Florida I 
have tracked the cuckoo through all his sea- 
sons and haunts; but, as I have already said, 
it was in the hill-country of North Georgia that 
I made the most of my notes. Thither, there- 
fore, let us go in the first days of April and be 
on the ground when the strange, sly, shadow- 
like bird comes up from the farther South. 
He usually comes, with the wind in his favor, 
drifting down into the fragrant groves on that 
half-enervating, half-inspiring dream-breath 
which the Spring puffs over the hills from the 
gulf. The first notice given of his advent is 
that pounding note, dolefully sounded in the 
