CUCKOO NOTES. T4E 
gloomy, hazel eyes, and the peculiar way it 
has of glaring half-stupidly at one when one 
approaches it, adds much to this unbalanced 
effect. In flying from one tree to another it 
does not cut straight away through the air, 
but dives downward, nearly to the ground, 
sometimes, and then whirls along in a zig-zag. 
erratic line, rising again at a sharp angle be- 
fore alighting. While in the air there is a 
sparkle of white in its over-long tail, and a 
sheen of greenish silver-gray along its neck 
and back, while on its wings trembles the 
glint of burnished copper blended with red-. 
dish cinnamon tints. 
While in repose it may be described as fol- 
lows: Bill black above, yellow below, long, 
broad at base, gently curved; feet lead-col- 
ored; back, darkish olive-gray ; under parts, 
white ; wings shot with vivid cinnamon, espe- 
cially on inner webs of quills; tail bearing 
on central feathers a continuation of the color 
of the back; outer tail-feathers tipped and 
edged with clear, pure white. Total length, 
11.50 inches; alar extent, 16.00 inches. 
Its nest when built in an orchard differs in 
construction somewhat from its wildwood 
architecture; but it may be easily identified 
by the open, sketchy effect of its outlines, its 
flatness and shallowness and the presence in 
its texture of the tassels and spikes of amen- 
taceous trees carelessly woven through the 
tangle of coarse twigs and fragments of leaves. 
The eggs, deposited irregularly in the oval, 
saucer-like cup, are of a very delicate greenish 
shade of color not easy to describe. I have 
* found occasionally as many as seven in a nest, 
though four is the usual number. 
