124 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



night, and the earliest to awake when the first streak of dawn appears 

 in the east. The cry of the young Cuckoo somewhat resembles that of 

 the Kestrel. 



The fact that the young Cuckoo ejects from the nest the eggs and 

 nestlings which are the legitimate produce of its selected foster-parents, 

 long regarded as a fable, is now accepted by uaturalists as having been 

 satisfactorily proved, and the baby Cuckoo is said to have in its early 

 days anatomical provisions to enable it to get rid of its companions. If 

 two young Cuckoos are hatched in one nest the stronger contrives to get 

 rid of the weaker, as has been witnessed by a friend of ours. 



A young Cuckoo with one leg and foot only, the other limb being a 

 mere stump, was found dead near Exeter, July 12th, 1881. Mr. 11, P, 

 jSicholls obtained a young bird, exactly the colour of a female Kestrel on 

 the back, from Aveton Gitfbrd, and presented it to the Natural History 

 Museum, South Kensington (MS. Is^otes). 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Cocci/zusamericanus(Lum.). 



An accidental visitor of extremely rare occurrence. 



A specimen of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo was picked up dead beneath 

 the lighthouse on Lundy Island iu October 1874, and was taken to the 

 Kcv. H. G. Heaven for determination. This bird was carried from the 

 island by a friend of the keeper of the lighthouse for preservation, and 

 we cannot state where it is now. Mr. Heaven gave us a full description 

 of it at the time, and we have not the slightest doubt that it was 

 correctly identified. This Cuckoo constructs its own nest, and rears its 

 own young, in North America. 



In the first edition of Yarrell's B. Birds, vol. ii. p. 190, mention is 

 made of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo which was killed in Cornwall, but no 

 particulars are given. Mr, Yarrell only states " the Cornwall specimen 

 was the subject of a ^jrivate communication,"' and Mr. E. H. llodd appears 

 to have had no knowledge of it. Two specimens have been obtained iu 

 Ireland, and two in Wales. One of these Welsh birds, shot on Lord 

 Cawdor's Stackpole estate in Pembrokeshire, was presented to the National 

 Collection, and is still, we believe, to be seen at South Kensington. In 

 spite of these occurrences, this American species is not admitted into the 

 British List by Mr. Howard Saunders in his ' Manual of B. Birds.' 



Note. — Alio! her American species, the Black-billed Cuckoo {Cucc>/~tis crythroph- 

 thalmus), has occurred in Ireland once. 



