RARER BRITISH BIRDS. 



23 



VIRGINIAN CUCKOO. 



Coccyzus Americanus. LINNAEUS. 



THE account given by Wilson, in his "American Ornithology," 

 of this bird, is so very characteristic of the man, and his mode 

 of investigating the habits of birds, that we shall give an extract 

 from his work, verbatim. " A stranger, who visits the United 

 States for the purpose of examining their natural productions, 

 and passes through our woods in the months of May or June, 

 will sometimes hear, as he traverses the borders of deep, retired, 

 high-timbered hollows, an uncouth guttural sound or note, re- 

 sembling the syllables, kowe, kowe, kowe, kowe, beginning 

 slowly, but ending so rapidly that the notes seem to run into 

 each other, and vice versa ; he will hear this frequently, without 

 being able to discover the bird or animal from which it proceeds ; 

 it is both shy and solitary, seeking always the thickest foliage 

 for concealment : this is the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, the subject 



