CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW. 275 



manner inspecting the whole tree, with motions as light as those by which 

 the Humming Bird flutters from one flower to another. In this manner 

 Chuck-wiirs-widow spends the greater part of the night. 



The greatest harmony appears to subsist between the birds of this 

 species, for dozens may be observed flying together over a field, and 

 chasing insects in all directions, ^vithout manifesting any enmity or envy. 

 A few days after the arrival of the male birds, the females make their 

 appearance, and the love season at once commences. The male pays 

 his addresses to the female with a degree of pomposity only equalled by 

 the Tame Pigeon. The female, perched lengthwise on a branch, appears 

 coy and silent, whilst the male flies around her, alights in front of her, 

 and with drooping wings and expanded tail advances quickly, singing 

 with great impetuosity. They are soon seen to leave the branch together 

 and gambol through the air. A few days after this, the female, having 

 made choice of a place in one of the most retired parts of some thicket, 

 deposits two eggs, which I think, although I cannot be certain, are all 

 that she lays for the season. This bird forms no nest. A little space is 

 carelessly scratched amongst the dead leaves, and in it the eggs, which 

 are elUptical, dull olive, and speckled with brown, are dropped. These 

 are not found without great difficulty, unless when by accident a person 

 passes within a few feet of the bird whilst sitting, and it chances to fly 

 off". Should you touch or handle these dear fruits of happy love, and, 

 returning to the place, search for them again, you would search in vain ; 

 for the bird perceives at once that they have been meddled with, and 

 both parents remove them to some other part of the woods, where chance 

 only could enable you to find them again. In the same manner, they 

 also remove the young when very small. 



This singular occurrence has as much occupied my thoughts as the 

 equally singular manner in which the Cow Buntivg deposits her eggs, 

 which she does, like the Common Cuckoo of Europe, one by one, in the 

 nests of other birds, of different species from her own. I have spent 

 much time in trying to ascertain in what manner the Chuck-wilFs-widow 

 removes her eggs or young, particularly as I found, by the assistance of 

 an excellent dog, that neither the eggs nor the young were to be met with 

 within at least a hundred yards from the spot where they at first lay. 

 The Negroes, some of whom pay a good deal of attention to the habits of 

 birds and quadrupeds, assured me that these birds push the eggs or 

 young with their bill along the ground. Some farmers, without troubling 



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