Cuckoo, Yellow-Billed 



birds There is something about the cuckoo's 



actions which always suggests to me that he either has 

 just done, or is about to do something he shouldn't. 



CHAPMAN. Bird Life. 22 



The cuckoos might well be called caterpillar birds, for 

 they are so given to a diet of the hairy caterpillars that 

 the walls of their stomachs are actually permeated with 

 the hairs, and a section of stomach looks like the smoothly 

 brushed top of a gentleman's beaver 



MERRIAM. Birds of Village and Field. 1 



Neither cuckoo knows how to build a proper home; 

 a bunch of sticks dropped carelessly into the bush, where 

 the hapless babies that emerge from the greenish eggs 

 will not have far to fall when they tumble out of bed, as 

 they must inevitably do, may by courtesy only be called 

 a nest. 



NELTJE BLANCH AN. Bird Neighbors. 23 



What do I hear? 



Is it from far or near? 



Is it upon the left or right, 



From down below or from the height, 



The sound of any living vocal thing? 

 Or is it only the vain conjuring 



Of artist Fancy shaping large and clear 



What dryads hear? 



SELECTED. 



64 



