riTi-Liuji — THE cicivoos. 4j;jj 



four o<,'o;s laid before inoul)ation coinmeiired, uud nil liiilelicd before otliers 

 were deposited. Tlieii tlie iiureiits seemed to d^'pend, in no small degree, 

 upon the warmth of the bodies of the older ollsiirini^' to compensate to tlic 

 younger for their own negleet, as w-H us lo- ilie ex])(is(dand nisiidieient 

 warmth of the nest. I liave rei)eutedl.v found in a nest tinee young and 

 two egg.s, one of the hitter nearly fresh, one with the endiryo half devejoped, 

 while of the young birds one would be ,j\i.st out of the shell, one lialf Hedged, 

 and one just ready to lly. My attention was first called to these peeuliaii- 

 ties of hatching as early as LS;U, Ijy finding, in Cambridge, in a nest with 

 three young bird.s, an egg which, instead of proving to lie addled, as I antici- 

 pated, was perfectly fresh, and evidently just laid. Subse(juent observations 

 in successive seasons led to the conviction that both this species and the 

 Black-billed Cuckoo share in these peculiarities, and tliat it is a general, but 

 not a universal practice. These facts were communicated to :\Ir. Audubon, 

 but not before his attention had been called to the .same thing. 



In referring to these peculiarities of the American Cuckoo, Mr. Audulion 

 finds in them a cloisely connecting link with the Kuro]ieaii liird, and :\rr. 

 Darwin, carrying still farther the same idiia, finds in tliem also data for re- 

 garding our birds as only one remove from the vagaries of the European 

 Cuckoo. At the first glance there may seem to be .some ]ilausibility in these 

 deductions. The mere ajtology for a nest of our Cuckoos and their alterna- 

 tions of laying and hatching may, to some extent, bo reganled as but one 

 remove from the total neglect of the European to build any nest, making, 

 instead, successive depositions in the nests of other birds, liut there are 

 other peculiarities of our Cuckoos to bo taken into consideration, t(jtally 

 variant from the polygamous, uncoujugal, and unjiarental lairojiean. Their 

 devotion to their mates and to their oifsju-ing, in which both sexes vie; with 

 each other ; their extended breeding-season, varying from one to nearly four 

 months, — all these characteristics separate them by a long interval from 

 their namesakes of the Old World. 



If the nests of the Cuckoos are incomplete and insidficient, so are also 

 those of the most exemplary of ])arents, the whole tribe of Pigeons, and, 

 like the latter, our Cuckoos more than atone for such deficiencies by the de- 

 voted fidelity with which they adhere to their po.st of duty even in the i'ace 

 of imminent dangers ; while, after the first offspring of the season have been 

 hatched, the warmth of their bodies becomes an additional protection from 

 the exposure of the bare jilatform on which they are deposited. 



The eggs of this species are of an oblong-oval shape, eipially obtuse 

 at either end, and measure 1.30 inches in length by 1.00 in breadth. 

 They vary considerably in size, their minimum breadth being .90 of an 

 inch, and the length 1.20 inches. Their color is a uniform light bluish- 

 green, extremely fujdtive, and fading e\en in the closed drawer of a 

 cabinet. 



vor,. ir. Qi 



