26 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



three half-grown young. The nest was placed in a clump of willows, within a 

 few feet of where I was camped, and my attention was first attracted to it by 

 the uneasy manner in which the parents moved through the willows, constantly 

 flitting back and forth, and always with a large black cricket (Anabus simplex 

 or purpwatus) in their bills, on which they seemed to feed their young entirely. 

 They picked most of these repulsive-looking creatures from grass stalks and 

 low shrubs on which they were feeding, and although there were numbers of 

 them to be found all around, as well as in camp, they generally went off some 

 little distance to get them. The nestlings, only two or three days old, were 

 ugly-looking creatures, and their bodies were almost naked. The parents soon 

 lost their fear caused by my proximity, and flew back and forth at short inter- 

 vals during the three hours of daylight in which I had an opportunity to observe 

 them. The young uttered occasionally a low, wheezy note, like "ugh, ugh," 

 but on the whole both parents and young were rather silent. This subspecies 

 has also been met with in Utah, and Mr. A. W. Anthony observed a Cuckoo which 

 is unquestionably referable to this subspecies near Ensenada, Lower California. 

 If the California Cuckoo showed the same parasitic habit of occasionally 

 depositing one or more of its eggs in the nests of other birds, as its eastern 

 relatives are now and then known to do, I believe that I should have observed 

 the fact in southern Arizona. Here I found eight of their nests with eggs, and 

 fully five hundred nests of smaller birds, which nested in similar localities among 

 the willow thickets and mesquite bushes, overrun with vines, in the creek 

 bottoms, but not a single instance of parasitism came under my observation. 

 The California Cuckoo built its own nest in every case, and while it generally 

 was a loose, slovenly affair, without any pretence to architectural beauty, I think 

 on the whole it compared favorably with the nests of our two better-known 

 eastern species; some at least were fairly well lined with dry grasses and the 

 blossoms of a species of JEvax, and there was generally a slight depression in 

 the center of the nest for the eggs to rest in. I took my first set, containing two 

 fresh eggs, on July 17, 1872; on the 25th of this month I found another set of 

 four eggs in which incubation had slightly and uniformly begun. On July 27 

 I secured two more sets, one of four, the other of three eggs, both fresh; and 

 I did not find any more until August 21, Avhen I took a set of three, one of 

 which contained a large embryo, another one somewhat less advanced, and the 

 remaining egg was addled. Next day I found two more nests, one containing a 

 set of three, in which incubation had commenced evenly, the other held two 

 fresh eggs, and on August 24 I found the last nest, which contained a single 

 fresh egg, ■ to which no others were added. Two of these nests contained 

 incomplete sets when found, and an egg was added in each case on succeeding- 

 days. As a rule, incubation does not begin until the set is completed, and an 

 egg is deposited daily. Both sexes assist in incubation and in the care of the 

 young. I believe only one brood is raised in southern Arizona in a season. 

 The nests here were placed in willow or mesquite thickets, from 10 to 15 feet 

 from the ground, and they were usually fairly well concealed by the surround- 

 ing foliage. 



