172 STOKIES OF BIRD LIFE 



And bloweth med [mead], 



And springeth the wde [wood] nu [now] 



Sing cuccu." 



Of all tlie tales told on the English birds, the one relat- 

 ing to the nesting habits of the cuckoo must reflect the 

 least credit on the accused. 



In the spring when the nesting time for birds arrives it 

 does not build a nest for itself, but quietly steals away and 

 deposits its eggs secretly in the nests of other birds. There 

 the eggs are incubated and the young are reared by the 

 foster parents. While the cuckoo thus saves itself the labor 

 of building a nest and the anxiety of caring for the young, 

 it has gained for itself an unpleasant notoriety, possessed 

 by few other birds. In this country the black cowbird has 

 the same habit. 



Our yellow-billed cuckoo has learned the art of nest 

 building but poorly, the nest in which the young are reared 

 being little more than a mere platform of twigs. Indeed, 

 so thin and frail a structure is it, that the eggs can often be 

 counted through the nest from beneath. It is usually 

 placed on some sheltering limb or among thick vines. The 

 eggs are nearly an inch and a quarter long and are about 

 three-fourths as wide. They vary from two to four in 

 number, and their color is greenish blue. Many birds lay 

 their eggs, one each day, with great regularity until the 



