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 



