BIRDS OF THE WEST 25 



cause there are fewer trees. However, they are quite a different 

 bird in other ways. They build better nests because the winds 

 blow harder and I believe they lay more eggs, for I have never 

 found less than four in Dakota, but in New England I seldom have 

 seen more than two. 



They say that in Old England they don't build nests at all, 

 but lay in other birds' nests as our cowbird does. Sometimes as 

 many as seven eggs are found in a single nest, but it is possible that 

 some other lady cuckoo thought that it would be all right as long 

 as it was all in the family. Whatever faults they have, they have 

 one merit and that is their appetite for tent caterpillars. If you 

 ever have a cuckoo in your orchard you ought to respectfully take 

 your hat off every time that you see him. Don't let anyone fool 

 you into the superstition that he is a bird of evil omen or that he 

 is a rain crow and runs the weather bureau or anything of the kind. 

 He isn't. He's after that bunch of cobwebs that is full of worms 

 that you will see up in the top of your apple tree. 



The cuckoo gives us one of the marvels of birdlife. The young 

 ones, twenty-four hours before leaving their nests, haven 't a feather 

 on them except long pinfeathers that make them look like baby 

 porcupines, but almost in the twinkling of an eye they blossom 

 forth like a rose and almost in the moment of your talking they 

 take wing and are gone. Isn 't it a wonder ? 



