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THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 



COCCYZUS AMERICANUS. BoNAP. 

 PLATE II. Male and Female. 



Were I inclined, like many persons who write on Natural History, to 

 criticise the figures given by other students, I should find enough to be 

 censured ; but as my object is simply to communicate the result of studies 

 to which I have devoted the greater part of my life, I shall content myself 

 with merely recommending to those intent on the advancement of that 

 most interesting science, to bestow a little more care on their representar- 

 tions of the bills, legs and feet of the species which they bring into 

 notice, and let it be seen that they indeed borrow from nature. 



From Nature f — How often are these Avords used, when at a glance he 

 who has seen the perfect and beautiful forms of birds, quadrupeds or 

 other objects, as they have come from the hand of Nature, discovers that 

 the representation is not that of living Nature I But I am deviating 

 from the track which I wish to follow, my desire being simply to give 

 you an opportunity, good reader, of judging for yourself as to the truth 

 of my dehneations, and to present you with the results of my observations 

 made in those very woods where the subjects have been found and de- 

 picted. 



The flight of the bird now before you is rapid, silent, and horizontal, 

 as it moves from one tree to another, or across a field or river, and is 

 generally continued amongst the branches of the trees in our woods. 

 When making its way among the branches, it occasionally inclines the 

 body to either side, so as alternately to shew its whole upper or under 

 parts. During its southward migration, it flies high in the air, and in 

 such loose flocks that the birds might seem to follow each other, instead of 

 their keeping company together. On the other hand, early in March, 

 the greater number enter our southern boundaries singly, the males 

 arriving first, and the females a few weeks after. They do not fly in a 

 continued line, but in a broad front, as, while travelHng with great ra- 

 pidity in a steam-boat, so as to include a range of a hundred miles in one 

 day, I have observed this Cuckoo crossing the Mississippi at many dif- 

 ferent points on the same day. At this season, they resort to the deepest 



