808 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
built about the first of June; * built,” however, is not a term 
invariably applicable to this nest, as I have known it to con- 
sist of a cotton-rag, which was firmly caught in the thorns of a 
barberry-bush. ‘The eggs, which in many cases are laid at ir- 
regular intervals, average 1:25 X °87 of an inch, and are light 
greenish-blue, but rarely or never elliptical. 
Fig. 17. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (4). 
(c). The Yellow-billed Cuckoos have evidently become very 
much less common near Boston than they once were, and are 
now considered rare in many if not all parts of New England. 
In general habits they are closely allied to the more common 
Black-billed Cuckoos, whose habits will be fully detailed in the 
next biography. They differ chiefly in having a rather less 
rapid flight, a greater fondness for high, dry, and wooded 
lands, and a somewhat different diet. Their habit of laying 
eggs at intervals of several days, also observable in the other 
species, is enough to distinguish them from nearly all our other 
land-birds. It is not rare to find their nest containing both 
young and eggs at very different stages of development. I 
once found a Robin’s nest in the same condition, but sucha 
case was wholly exceptional. The female Cuckoo, when ap- 
proached while on her nest, usually sits bravely, but finally 
throws herself upon the ground, and flutters away, uttering 
piteous and uncouth sounds, which can hardly fail to distract 
the attention of an egg-hunter ; but this device rarely succeeds, 
since it is resorted to too late. 
