84 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



they are, it always appeared to me, exceedingly prosaic. 

 I have never been so fortunate as to witness these evi- 

 dences of conjugal affection so graphically described by 

 Alexander Wilson. They seem rather to live on the 

 plan of every one for himself, and consider their own 

 comfort to the entire exclusion of that even of their 

 mates. However it may be with other birds, it is high- 

 ly improbable that the cuckoo cares a jot whether he 

 renews his acquaintance with his last year's wife or con- 

 sorts with a stranger. The cuckoo in the sumac per- 

 sisted in remaining characteristically prosaic, littering 

 no sound after he first announced his presence, and not 

 deigning to go through those beautiful evolutions among 

 the branches in which he sometimes indulges when in- 

 sect hunting. I have occasionally seen a cuckoo, with 

 apparently closed wings, encircle a large limb of a tree 

 without touching it ; as though in some mysterious 

 manner it gave the necessary impulse to its body, and 

 determined the direction by the curvature of the tail. 

 Their flight is easy and deliberate when passing from 

 tree to tree, giving one the impression of a lazy bird ; 

 but often when in a tree their movements are the cli- 

 max of graceful locomotion. 



I have been referring to the commoner yellow-billed 

 species. There is another, the black-billed, which has 

 essentially the same habits. Both, I have ever found, 

 are partial to the proximity of running water, and they 

 often remain so closely to the overhanging branches, 

 that while often heard, they will seldom be seen, unless 

 one is afloat and observes them then. The cuckoo in tho 

 sumac remained quite closely to the water's edge for 



