144 Bird- Lore 



evidence, that the Cuckoos not only often called and flew about at night, 

 but habitually journeyed through the air at a great height, apparently 

 going far. Walking in the fields, or lying under the stars, on pleasant 

 nights, I rarely failed to hear several utterances of the gurgling Cuckoo 

 note very high overhead. Sometimes one of the birds would call frequently 

 enough so that its general course could be distinctly traced ; but more 

 often a single gurgle, sounding from somewhere in the starry heavens, 

 was the only intimation of the transit of another Cuckoo. 



High overhead " is an ambiguous expression, which needs qualifying; 

 but unfortunately it is impossible safely to estimate the height in such a 

 case. The birds were often so far up as to be only faintly audible when 

 directly overhead, with no obstructions interposed; and this on a still night 

 would seem to mean an elevation of at least a hundred and fifty yards. 

 They sometimes flew lower, however, and on cloudy nights often moved 

 about barely above the tree -tops. On foggy nights they were apt to be 

 vociferous, but chiefly with the cow -cow notes, and flew little. I have 

 heard them at all hours of the night, but mainly between eight and twelve. 

 In my last summer's journal I have thus recorded an extraordinary 'irrup- 

 tion ' of nocturnal Cuckoos: "July 14: Every night the Cuckoos call 

 overhead. On the evening of July 11, — a pitch-dark evening with a 

 thunder-shower lowering, — they were remarkably noisy, both sitting in 

 trees and flying high in air. The seated ones, of which I heiard only two, 

 made the cow -cow notes, while all the flying ones made the liquid gurgle. 

 I heard this note overhead between thirty and forty times in the course of 

 about three hours, during half of which time I was afoot on the road. 

 The birds were almost all flying high, and all but one of the five or six 

 whose course could be traced seemed to be going northward." This was 

 the climax of my last year's experience with these queer birds. 



The present summer of 1903 has been a repetition of the two previous 

 ones as far as Cuckoo antics and my observations of them are concerned. 

 From May to September the high -sky Cuckoo gurgle has been one of the 

 regulation night -sounds, — so very familiar as quite to lose its poignancy of 

 interest. One new item has been added to the chronicle, however; I have 

 heard the note at the usual height overhead from an elevation of nearly 

 3,000 feet on the narrow rocky ridge of Mt. Monadnock! Now, though 

 this bird may possibly have been wandering about the mountain, there was 

 every indication that he was merely passing over it, in the course of a long 

 journey. It is precisely as if the birds were migrating; which is impossible 

 during the three months of summer, when the performance is at its height. 

 Moreover, in view of the fact that I have seen a Cuckoo's nest containing 

 an unfledged young one on September 14, at the northern base of Monad- 

 jiock, not even the September night -flyers can be considered migrants. 



What, then, is the meaning of this weirdly incongruous performance, — 



