480 XOIITII AMERICAN BIRDS. 



tate tliem.selvos to tlio <j;roiiii(l, IhitU'riiiLT. tninliliii.u, and roij^niiis lameness, in 

 tlie manner of many utliur alleutionate and artful l«i'd«, to draw the intruder 

 away from tlie vicinity of the l)i'ood. ^Vt sueli times, tiie motiier also utters 

 the most uncouth j^uttural sounds as she runs along the jjround. While tlie 

 female is nn^^aged in sittiiij; on her ciiarL,'e, the mule takes liis station at no 

 great distance, and gives alarm by liis notes, on the api)roach of an intruder. 

 When the young are hatched, both unite in the lalwrof providing them with 

 food. He suhse(iui iitly .states that these birds hatcli several broods in a 

 season, which lie infei'red from the fact of his meeting with a nest contain- 

 ing eggs as late as the I'Hth of August. He .also speaks of finchng in one 

 instance an egg of the Cuckoo laid in tiie nest of a Catbird, and in another 

 instance (June lo) an egg in the nest of a I\obin. Such instances must, 

 however, be very rare. No other writer menti(ms any similar instance, and 

 none have ever fallen under my ob.servations. 



Mr. (Josse, in his Birds of Jamaica, describes the Yellow-bill as among 

 the liirds of tliat island, speaks of it as among the regular visitants in spring, 

 but niiikes no mention of its breeding there. 



'Mr. Edward Xewton, in his paper on the liirds of St. Croix (Il)is, 1859, 

 p. 14'.)), gives an interesting account of its breeding in that locality. He adds 

 his testimony to the general credit given to this species for the conjugal 

 affection they evince. On one occasion, he says, a male having been sliot, 

 and shrieking as it fell, the female instantly flew to the spot, and fluttered 

 along tiie ground in the manner that an old hen Partridge or other bird would 

 do, to lead astray the pursuer of her young. On June 2, ISoS, he shot a 

 female of this sjiecies, having an egg in lier ovary nearly ready for exclusion ; 

 it was (piite soft, but had its proper color. On the 29th of the same month, 

 while riding, he saw the white terminal spots of a Cuckoo's tail jtrojecting 

 from a small nest on a manchineel that overliung the path. It was built 

 in a very o])en situation, and the liird, as he rode underneath, was not more 

 than a yard above his head. She sat with nearly all her neck and breast out- 

 side the nest, which was only just large enough to contain the eggs. She did not 

 fly off until after he had tied up tlie pony hard by, and had almost touched her 

 with his whip. There were three eggs, loi<l side by side in a row, «/()«(/ which 

 the bird had been sitting. The nest was at some distance from the stem of 

 the tree, and placed loosely on the bough. It was a mere platform of small 

 sticks laid one across another, with a few finer twigs and a little grass as a 

 lining ; so .slightly was it put togetlier, that, on attempting to take it from the 

 tree, it fell to pieces. 



No M'riter Itesides Mr. Audul)on makes any mention of, or appears to have 

 been aware of, the peculiar hal)its of these birds in hatching out their succes- 

 sive depositions of eggs, one liy one. In this resper^t they are eccentrics, and 

 do not always exhibit this trait. Wiiili! I have rejientedly oliserved facts 

 exactly corresponding witli those noticed by Mr. Audubon in the garden of 

 Mr. lihett, at other times I have found in tiie opening of the .season three or 



