CUCKOO NOTES. 137 



us of rain, as many good people think, by ut- 

 tering its notably strange cry, once heard 

 never forgotten ; but yet it is on the northern 

 margin of the sub-tropic, among the dry, warm 

 hills of Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, 

 that Coccygus most loves to dwell. 



A cuckoo's nest is a very simple affair at 

 first glance, a mere amorphous jumble of 

 twigs, catkins and leaf-ribs, apparently tossed 

 at hap-hazard on a low bough ; but it will bear 

 close study, for its architecture is characteris- 

 tic of the bird's strange genius. How does 

 such a loose pile of sticks maintain its place 

 during a heavy wind? Careful examination 

 discloses a system of deftest weaving instead 

 of a careless or chance arrangement. The 

 work of a genius may appear rough and dis- 

 jointed when in fact the subtlest art has made 

 it look so for the deepest purpose. We may 

 never determine how near is the relation be- 

 tween the rarest human intelligence and the 

 instinct of animals, but I have not yet seen 

 the man who could build a cuckoo's nest ! 



From the Ohio valley down into Florida I 

 have tracked the cuckoo through all his sea- 

 sons and haunts ; but, as I have already said, 

 it was in the hill-country of North Georgia that 

 I made the most of my notes. Thither, there- 

 fore, let us go in the first days of April and be 

 on the ground when the strange, sly, shadow- 

 like bird comes up from the farther South. 

 He usually comes, with the wind in his favor, 

 drifting down into the fragrant groves on that 

 half-enervating, half-inspiring dream-breath 

 which the Spring puffs over the hills from the 

 gulf. The first notice given of his advent is 

 that pounding note, dolefully sounded in the 



