CUCKOO NOTES. 143 



with not a waft from the busy human world to 

 disturb my enjoyment. 



A pair of yellow-billed cuckoos were build- 

 ing a nest, after their desultory, aimless fash- 

 ion, in a scrubby tree over which a mass of 

 the Southern green-briar vines had grown. 

 The bough upon which the beginnings of the 

 nest-skeleton appeared, was not more than 

 forty feet distant from my door, so that, bar- 

 ring some slender intervening twigs, I had a 

 clear view of all the building processes. One 

 curious and noteworthy habit of the cuckoo 

 was observed, of which I have never seen 

 mention in any ornithological work. In carry- 

 ing a limber twig or leaf-fragment, the bird 

 gripped one end of it with its foot and*the 

 other with its bill ; a trick which enabled it to 

 pass through the tangled vines and branches 

 without much difficulty on account of its bur- 

 den. 



During my stay at this glade the nights were 

 rendered glorious by a strong moon and a 

 clear atmosphere. Several times I heard, be- 

 tween midnight and dawn, the cry of the 

 Yellow-bill uttered in a suppressed tone from 

 the densest part of a thicket. It may have 

 been a mocking-bird. I tried in vain to be 

 sure, but I am inclined to think that the cuckoo 

 itself uttered the calls. If it was a mocking- 

 bird the weird reserve-force apparent in the 

 expression and timbre of the imitative passage 

 did infinite credit to the famous low-country 

 songster's incomparable vocal powers. 



It is strangely difficult to make out the exact 

 location of a bird by its cry at night, especially 

 in a wooded place. I tried to discover the 

 roosting-place of my cuckoos ; but watch them 



