The Yellow-Billed Cuckoo 191 



count of its short and weak feet, its movements are rather 

 awkward ; but on the wing it is exceedingly graceful ; its flight 

 is noiseless and swift and it moves or rather glides through 

 the densest foliage with the greatest ease, now flying sidewise, 

 and again twisting and doubling at right angles through the 

 thickest shrubbery almost as easily as if passing through un- 

 obstructed space, its long tail assisting it very materially in 

 all its complicated movements." In many respects the Euro- 

 pean cuckoo is like ours. Of it Wordsworth, Nature's bard of 

 England, wrote : 



"O blithe newcomer! I have heard, 



I hear thee and rejoice. 

 A Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird? 



Or but a wandering voice? 



While I am lying on the grass, 



Thy loud note smites my ear! 

 From hill to hill it seems to pass, 



At once far off and near! 



Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring! 



Even thou art to me 

 No bird, but an invisible thing, 



A voice, a mystery." 



Our cuckoo is not gifted with song. It simply has calls, 

 and these are described as "cook-cook, cook, cook, "cow-cow- 

 cow-cow," and "ke-ock, ke-ock, ke-ock, ke-ock." But, like its 

 foreign relative, it may be properly called "A voice, a mys- 

 tery," for no bird with which I am acquainted is so mysterious 

 and strange in its habits. You hear its call and know it is 

 about, but find it if you can ! It is in the midst of the foliage 

 of some tree, sitting so still you can not see it. Presently it 

 will leave the tree with the velocity of an arrow and fly directly 

 into the foliage of another tree. And so, from tree to tree it 

 will go hunting for its relished food, never alighting on the 

 outside or on top of the tree. 



