observed in high and dry situations any 

 distance from the water." The call notes 

 of the two species are scarcely distin- 

 guishable though that of the yellow- 

 billed cuckoo seems to be the louder of 

 the two. Perhaps their most common 

 note is one that is uttered in a low and 

 pleasing voice that would seem to indi- 

 cate perfect contentment and sounding 

 like "noo-coo-coo-coo." Another pleas- 

 ing note is a softly uttered and oft-re- 

 peated "Coo-coo." Mrs. Olive Thorne 

 Miller, who has made a careful study of 

 the habits of the Black-billed Cuckoo, 

 describes its alarm note as sounding like 

 the syllables "Cuck-a-ruck." 



There is no doubt that parasitism is 

 practiced to some extent by the Black- 

 billed Cuckoo. Its eggs have been found 

 in the nests of several species of the 

 smaller birds, such as some of the warb- 

 lers, the catbird, the pewees and the 

 robin. However, such instances are com- 

 paratively rare, while its eggs have been 

 quite frequently found in the nests of the 

 yellow-billed species. In the transac- 

 tions of the Canadian Institute, Dr. C. K. 

 Clarke has published the following in- 

 teresting observation : "In an orchard 

 we discovered a Black-billed Cuckoo sit- 

 ting in a chipping sparrow's nest, and the 

 bird did not attempt to move till we al- 

 most touched it. It now seemed very 

 evident that the case against the bird was 

 a strong one, and when a Cuckoo's egg 

 was found in the nest the chain of evi- 

 dence was complete. The egg was 

 hatched and produced a tyrannical young 

 Cuckoo, who turned his companions out 

 of the nest and made himself as com* 

 fortable as possible as long as was neces- 

 sary. Two of us saw the old Cuckoo ac- 

 tually sitting in the nest, and there was 

 no doubt about the matter." Another 

 interesting instance, that well illustrates 

 the erratic habits of this bird, is related 

 by Mr. J. L. Davison in "Forest and 

 Stream." He says : "I found a Black- 

 billed Cuckoo and a mourning dove sit- 

 ting on a robin's nest together. The 

 Cuckoo was the first to leave the nest. 

 On securing this I found it contained two 

 eggs of the Cuckoo, two of the mourning 

 dove, and one robin's egg. The robin 

 had not quite finished the nest when the 

 Cuckoo took possession of it and filled 



it nearly full of rootlets ; but the robin 

 got in and laid one egg. } ' 



Even Pliny, that wonderful Roman 

 student of Nature, knew of the parasitic 

 habits of the European cuckoo. In an 

 interesting account, he says : "It al- 

 ways lays its eggs in the nest of another 

 bird, and that of the ring-dove more 

 especially, — mostly a single egg, a thing 

 that is the case with no other bird ; 

 sometimes however, but very rarely, it 

 is known to lay two. It is supposed, that 

 the reason for its thus substituting its 

 young ones, is the fact that it is aware 

 how greatly it is hated by all the other 

 birds ; for even the very smallest of them 

 will attack it. Hence it is, that it thinks 

 its own race will stand no chance of be- 

 ing perpetuated unless it contrives to de- 

 ceive them, and for this reason builds 

 no nest of its own: and besides this, it 

 is a very timid animal. In the mean- 

 time, the female bird, sitting on her nest, 

 is rearing a suppositious and spurious 

 progeny ; while the young cuckoo, which 

 is naturally craving and greedy, snatches 

 away all the food from the other young 

 ones, and by so doing grows plump and 

 sleek, and quite gains the affection of his 

 foster-mother ; who takes a great pleas- 

 ure in his fine appearance, and is quite 

 surprised that she has become the mother 

 of so handsome an offspring." 



The statement of this classic writer, in 

 regards to the ring-dove's nest is not sub- 

 stantiated by facts, for the cuckoos seem- 

 ingly lay their eggs only in the nests of 

 insectivorous birds. Regarding Pliny's 

 deductions as to the cause of the cuckoos' 

 parasitism, Curier says that it is not a 

 very good reason, but that we have not 

 been able to discover a better one. Some 

 observers believe that the parasitic hab- 

 its of the European cuckoo is caused 

 by the slow development of the eggs 

 within the body of the bird, thus caus- 

 ing a considerable period of time to lapse 

 between the depositing of the eggs. This 

 condition would make it quite impossible 

 for the mother bird to attend to the in- 

 cubation of her own eggs. Dr. Robert 

 Ridgeway, in "Birds of Illinois," gives 

 the following observations of Colonel S. 

 T. Walker, who "has found young birds," 

 of the yellow-billed cuckoo "in the nest 

 just ready to fly. others half fledged, 



t5?S 



