



YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 229 



and apple orchards. It leaves us, on its return southward, about 

 the middle of September. 



The singular, I will not say unnatural, conduct of the Euro- 

 pean Cuckoo, (Cuculus canorus) which never constructs a 

 nest for itself, but drops its eggs in those of other birds, and 

 abandons them to their mercy and management, is so univer- 

 sally known, and so proverbial, that the whole tribe of Cuckoos 

 have, by some inconsiderate people, been stigmatized as desti- 

 tute of all parental care and affection. Without attempting to 

 account for this remarkable habit of the European species, far 

 less to consider as an error what the wisdom of Heaven has 

 imposed as a duty on the species, I will only remark, that the 

 bird now before us builds its own nest, hatches its own eggs, 

 and rears its own young; and in conjugal and parental affection 

 seems nowise behind any of its neighbours of the grove. 



Early in May they begin to pair, when obstinate battles take 

 place among the males. About the tenth of that month they 

 commence building. The nest is usually fixed among the hor- 

 izontal branches of an apple-tree; sometimes in a solitary thorn, 

 crab or cedar, in some retired part of the woods. It is construct- 

 ed with little art, and scarcely any concavity, of small sticks 

 and twigs, intermixed with green weeds, and blossoms of the 

 common maple. On this almost flat bed, the eggs, usually three 

 or four in number, are placed; these are of a uniform greenish 

 blue colour, and of a size proportionable to that of the bird. 

 While the female is sitting, the male is generally not far dis- 

 tant, and gives the alarm by his notes, when any person is ap- 

 proaching. The female sits so close, that you may almost reach 

 her with your hand, and then precipitates herself to the ground, 

 feigning lameness to draw you away from the spot, fluttering, 

 trailing her wings, and tumbling over, in the manner of the 

 Partridge, Woodcock, and many other species. Both parents 

 unite in providing food for the young. This consists for the 

 most part of caterpillars, particularly such as infest apple-trees. 

 The same insects constitute the chief part of their own suste- 

 nance. They are accused, and with some justice, of sucking the 



