^LACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 217 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed in trees or bushes, flat in fnnn ami loosely constructed, composed of sticks among which are placed leaves, 

 pine needles, nnil weeds, lined with leaves, catkins of the willow, etc. Dimensions, external diameter, S'OO, internal, 

 J-50. External depth, 2'00, internal, '75. 



/.//.</., four in number, rather elliptical in form, quite dark -bluish-green in color, occasionally spotted with a darker 

 ihade of the same. Dimensions from 1 '00 x '70 to l'25x'75. 



HABITS. 



During the last days of May, when the trees and shrubs of New England have so far 

 assumed their delicate green foliage as to form shadowy retreats for those birds that are 

 fond di' concealment, an abruptly given note may be heard coming from some dense thick- 

 et. Perhaps I ought not to call the note abrupt for, although it begins without any pre- 

 liminary warning, it is so rich in tone and is uttered so smoothly, with a constantly falling 

 cadence, that one quite forgets that the musician neglected to give an opening prelude and 

 listens eagerly for a repetition of the lay. But the hidden vocalist is fickle, often refusing 

 to repeat its song and, as it persistently remains invisible, the listener, especially if he be 

 not well skilled in bird lore, is inclined to look upon the author of the peculiar, though 

 pleasing, melody as a mysterious being, a kind of dryad, who takes this method of inform- 

 ing the powers of the air that they have quite overlooked the fact that the shrubbery in 

 its favorite copes is suffering for want of rain. 



There are few birds which are so large and withal so common which are so little known 

 among those who are not ornithologists, as the Black-billed Cuckoos. I have had many of 

 the uninitiated ask me the name of the author of the mystical notes and almost all were sur- 

 prised when I told them that it was a Cuckoo, for there is nothing in the cow-cow-cow of 

 this species that would suggest the name. As I have intimated, these notes are oftener 

 given just before a fall of rain than at any other time for this Cuckoo appears to be exceed- 

 ingly sensitive to any atmospheric change, and I have even heard them utter their notes 

 during the darkness of summer nights when wet weather was impending. 



The Black-billed Cuckoos begin to breed about the first of June, choosing some retired 

 spot in a tangled thicket in which to place the nest. The eggs are deposited at long inter- 

 vals so that it is not unfrequent to find both young and eggs in the same nest. This habit 

 is, doubtlessly, the result of an occasional quickening of an ancestral trait, usually latent, 

 for we find that other species of Cuckoos, noticeably the common European, are parasitical 

 in tlioir breeding habits and, consequently, more or less irregular in time of depositing 

 their eggs. Nor does this peculiarity end here in our species for two or three instances 

 have come under my notice where either the Black-billed has deposited its eggs in the nest 

 of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo or vice versa, and furthermore, although I have never seen an 

 instance, I have been informed by such good authority that I see no reason for doubting 

 the statement, that occasionally the eggs of the Black-billed are to be found in the nests 

 of other birds and were once taken from that of a Chipping Sparrow. It is, of course, 

 possible that this habit, instead of being only an occasional outbreaking of one that is near- 

 ly always latent, is progressive or, again, that under favorable circumstances, it may be- 

 come more general; in fact, as fully established as that of the Cow Bunting, but this is a 

 matter for ornithologists of future generations to prove. 



BIKDS OF FLORIDA. 28 



