firmly to the branches with their feet that our attempts to dislodge them were of no avail, and 

 we had to reach them with the hand. On looking at all these birds our surprise was great, as 

 no two of them were of the same size, which clearly showed, that they had been hatched at 

 different periods ; and I should suppose the largest to have been fully three weeks older than any 

 of the rest. Mr. Ehett assured us that he had observed the same in another nest, placed in a 

 tree within a few paces of his house. He stated that eleven young Cuckoos had been succes- 

 sively hatched and reared in it by the same pair of old birds in one season, and that young birds 

 and eggs were to be seen in it at the same time for many weeks in succession." 



The nests I have found in Texas, where the present species arrives about the middle of 

 April, and immediately commences nidification, were very slight structures, resembling the nest 

 of the Dove, and were built of dry twigs collected together so as to form a scanty platform, and 

 lined, if lining it could be called, with a few grass-straws. The nests were usually placed on a 

 large limb of an oak or mezquite tree ; and one or two were built close to the house on the 

 ranche where I so frequently stayed, on the Medina river. The full complement of eggs 

 appeared to be four ; but I see from the notes of ornithologists who have taken its nest in more 

 northern localities that it there generally deposits five eggs. Professor Newton remarks that in 

 a nest he took on the island of St. Croix the eggs were placed side by side in a row, along which 

 the bird had been sitting ; but I did not observe this peculiarity in the position of the eggs in 

 any of the nests I took. 



The eggs (of which I possess a tolerable series) are delicate light blue in colour, with a very 

 slight greenish tinge, and some are clouded with white. This colour is very fugitive; but with 

 care I have managed to keep some that I took in Texas so that they have scarcely faded since the 

 day they were blown. In size they vary from 1^- by f§ to l^f by f§ inch, are somewhat elongated 

 oval in shape ; and the surface of the shell is devoid of gloss, being almost chalky in texture. 



The specimen figured, on the same Plate with the Black-billed Cuckoo, is an adult female, 

 shot by myself at Matamoras, in Mexico, and is the bird above described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a. St. Stephen's, New Brunswick (G. Boardman) . b, 6 . Washington, D. C, July 10th, 1859 [Elliott Coues) . 

 e, $. Matamoras, Mexico, July 29th, 1863 (H.E.D.). d, 6 . Medina river, Texas, May 15th, 1861 

 [H.E.D.). 



E Mus. Salvin and Godman, 



a. Barry's wood, Columbia, August 12th, 1859 {Elliott Coues). b. Hawes woods, Columbia, August 22nd, 

 1859 {Elliott Coues). c. Jalapa, South Mexico, 1872 {Be Oca), d. Duenas, September 1862 {O. S.). 

 e. Duenas, September 1864. (0. S.). f,d. Bogota, New Granada {G. Crossther). y,<3. Medellin, 

 Antioquia, U. S. C. 1876 {F. K. Salmon). 



