Our Common Birds and How to Know Them 
Redstart, the American Goldfinch, Wrens, Thrashers, Vireos, and numerous other 
varieties of birds in great profusion. It was at this place that a friend of the writer 
pitched a tent, and, with his dog as his only companion, spent four delightful months, 
solitary, indeed, except for an occasional visit from a few of his acquaintances who were 
lovers enough of Nature to be willing to accept in her service the limited, but by no 
means comfortless, accommodations of a canvas house and a somewhat rudimentary 
couch. It was the writer's good fortune to be reckoned among the favored ones, and 
the days spent there in delightful rambles and the evenings passed in luxurious repose 
will linger long in the memory. 
Here | made my first acquaintance with the Black-billed Cuckoo. It was at dawn, 
or shortly after. We were wakened by a loud and continuous and rather hoarse cooing 
note. We rose and stole out of the tent. and upon the large tree, whose branches over- 
hung our habitation, sat a long, grey bird, with a light breast. It looked somewhat like 
a Pigeon, and, indeed, its utterance bore a certain resemblance to the croon of that 
bird. It was not long, however, before we knew it to be the Cuckoo, and we stood 
and watched it with interest for many minutes. After a time we perceived several 
