140 Bird-Nesting 



of the bronzed grackle, red-winged starling, cat bird and 

 American rt>bin. I only took two or three of the finest 

 clutches, but I suppose if I had cared to, I could have soon 

 filled my hat full of these common eggs. What a different 

 task it is collecting specimens in the east, where one may 

 tramp through the woods and fields all day and find less than 

 a dozen nests, While here on the prairies, and in the bluffs, it is 

 an easy matter to examine over a hundred nests a day. The 

 oologist can here have his wishes gratified to the fullest ex- 

 tent. The first find of importance was a nest and three eggs 

 of the black-billed cuckoo. The nest was made externally of 

 twigs, lined with fine roots and grass, and built in a bush. 

 The eggs can easily be distinguished from those of the yellow- 

 billed cuckoo by their smaller size, and darker glaucous green 

 colour. I did not come across the yellow -billed cuckoo in the 

 North- West; it is a more southern species than the black- 

 billed. I only know of one instance of its eggs being taken 

 near Toronto, Canada, where the black-billed cuckoo is a com- 

 mon summer resident. The nests of both birds are like minia- 

 ture crow's nests, forming a flattish structure, and are gener- 

 ally saddled on the horizontal branch of a tree, or built in the 

 centre of some prickly bush, like the nest of the great grey 

 shrike. 



The voice of the American cuckoo is not like that of the 

 European species. The European cuckoo has a sweet mellow 

 voice, and articulates the word cuckoo very distinctly, but the 

 voice of the American cuckoo is more of a hoot, and sounds 

 like the syllables koo-koo-koo. The burrowing owl makes 

 just such a similar noise. The American cuckoos are known 

 in some districts as rain crows, because their notes are uttered 

 more frequently during the atmospheric changes preceding 

 falling weather. Although not parasites, like the European 

 species, devoid of parental instinct, they have their bad habits, 

 being even worse enemies to the small, gentle birds, for they 

 are great thieves, and as wicked as jays and magpies, continu- 

 ally robbing birds of their eggs, and even, it is said, devouring 

 the helpless nestlings. The yellow and black -billed cuckoos 



