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 



