CUCKOO NOTES. 149 



should be protected and their propagation en- 

 couraged, as they are the saviours of our for- 

 ests, our orchards, and our hedges. 



Looking over my cuckoo-notes, I find re- 

 minders in them of all the sweetest woodland 

 solitudes between the Great Lakes and the 

 Gulf. The bubbling of the cold trout-brooks 

 of the Leelenaw blends with the lazy swash of 

 the Pearl River and the Kissiinmee. 



But I must hasten to remark that, contrary to 

 what one is led to expect, in all the low country 

 of the South the cuckoos are scarce, even in 

 mid-winter. In the region of Lake Okeechobee 

 and on the outskirt of the Everglades close ob- 

 servation failed to certainly note even the spe- 

 cies C. seniculus or mangrove-cuckoo. From 

 the fact that the Yellow-bill is found on the 

 Pacific coast and in parts of the Southern 

 Rocky Mountains, it is probable that its winter 

 resort may be chiefly in Mexico and Central 

 America. In March I saw a few specimens 

 haunting the oak groves on the high-lands be- 

 tween Tallahassee, Florida, and Thomasville, 

 Georgia, and I was told that their nests were 

 sometimes seen there. 



So many cuckoo legends have gone afloat 

 each adding something uncanny or roman- 

 tic to the popular opinion of our harmless bird 

 that I am tempted to close this paper with 

 one current in the southern mountainous region, 

 to the effect that the Yellow-bill cannot be killed 

 by a rifle-shot if its breast be turned towards 

 the shooter. I once attempted to demon- 

 strate the fallacy of this claim for the benefit 

 of a hard-headed old mountaineer and was un- 

 lucky enough to miss my bird ! 



" Ther' ! " he exclaimed, " what'd I tell ye ! 



