CUCKOO NOTES. 143 
with not a waft from the busy human world to 
disturb my enjoyment. 
A pair of yellow-billed cuckoos were build- 
ing a nest, after their desultory, aimless fash- 
ion, in a scrubby tree over which a mass of 
the Southern green-briar vines had grown. 
The bough upon which the beginnings of the 
nest-skeleton appeared, was not more than 
forty feet distant from my door, so that, bar- 
ring some slender intervening twigs, I had a 
clear view of all the building processes. One 
curious and noteworthy habit of the cuckoo 
was observed, of which I have never seen 
mention in any ornithological work. In carry- 
ing a limber twig or leaf-fragment, the bird 
gripped one end of it with its foot and the 
other with its bill ; a trick which enabled it to 
pass through the tangled vines and branches 
without much difficulty on account of its bur- 
den. 
During my stay at this glade the nights were 
rendered glorious by a strong moon and a 
clear atmosphere. Several times I heard, be- 
tween midnight and dawn, the cry of the 
Yellow-bill uttered in a suppressed tone from 
the densest part of.a thicket. It may have 
been a mocking-bird. I tried in vain to be 
sure, but Iam inclined to think that the cuckoo 
itself uttered the calls. If it was a mocking- 
bird the weird reserve-force apparent in the 
expression and ¢imbre of the imitative passage 
did infinite credit to the famous low-country 
songster’s incomparable vocal powers. 
It is strangely difficult to make out the exact 
location of a bird by its cry at night, especially 
in a wooded place. I tried to discover the 
roosting-place of my cuckoos; but watch them 
