EGGS: 



The number of eggs laid clurlng llio season seems to vary considerably. If tlie inotlier bird begins 

 incubation as soon as the first egg is deposited, as many as six or eight may be dropped duriiig tlio 

 sitting, at intervals of two to five days. In -which instance young birds of different ages, and fresh and 

 partly incubated eggs, to the number of eight, may be in one nest. But ^vlicn incubation does not begin 

 until the complement is completed, as is commonly the case, four eggs, rarely six, make up the set. 



The color of the eggs when recently blown is light bluish-green, varying a little in shade in different 

 specimens. The shell, -which is never glossy, is sometimes mottled with darker shades of the same 

 color, or mottled or specked with white. The size and shape is by no means constant, oven of eggs 

 from the same set; some are elliptical, others are quite pointed at one end, and still others are irregular 

 in outline. The average size of twenty-eight specimens is 1.27 x .89. The smallest, 1.13x.8o; the 

 largest, 1.33 x .97. 



DIFFERENTIAL TOINTS: 



See page 45. 



EEM ARKS : 



The nest illustrated was taken on the twenty-eighth day of !May, 1878, from a black-haw. The 

 branches upon which the nest rested were inclined at an angle of 4o°. The plate shows the branches 

 in a perpendicular position, the nest being thus inclined sufficiently to give a A'iew of the upper surface. 



The materials of construction are sticks and catkins of the oak. The dried leaves belong' to the 

 dead branch -which is lodged in the fork. In six days after its completion four eggs had been deposited, 

 and incubation had commenced. The eggs figured show the common shapes, shades of color, and irregu- 

 larities of outline. They are colored from freshly blown specimens. 



The habits of our two Cuckoos are so similar as regards locality, position, and materials for nest- 

 buildmg, and even the eggs are often so much alike, that it may be of A^alue to some to mention a 

 peculiarity of plumage which will always determine the species if any doubt exists. In collecting, it is 

 not always possible to examine closely the bird when the nest has been found. She may, if upon the 

 nest, sit closely any desired length of time, and permit a thorough inspection at a reasonable distance ; 

 but usually, just as careful notes of bill, eye, and general plumage are being inade, the bird silently 

 glides, almost drops, from the nest into the thicket, and cither patient waiting nrast bo endured or 

 another visit made, for it is almost impossible to procure a view of her after she has gained the foliage. 

 But the trouble of Avaiting, or another visit, will not be necessary if attention is given to the marking 

 of the tail-feathers as the bird flushes from the eggs. If large blotches of Avhite are seen, it is C. ameri- 

 canus. If no white appears, or only a very little about the tips of the feathers, it is C. erythropthalmus. 

 So conspicuous are these white spots on the tail-feathers of the former, that they may always be seen 

 if looked for, though the bird is visible but for an instant, and that in the densest cover. As a rule, 

 the best way to identify the species when found sitting, is to frighten' the bird from the nest and obser^^e 

 the tail-feathers as «he flies away. 



The character of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is not above suspicion. In fact it was long ago convicted 

 of theft and murder, though perhaps not quite so blood-thirsty as the Blue Jay. The female has, to 

 some extent the indolent habit of the Cow Bunting and European Cuckoo. I once found an egg \n the 

 nest of the Cardinal Grosbeak, and once in a Catbird's nest; the latter may possibly have been the 

 property of the Black-billed, but about the former there was no doubt. 



70 



