70 Twelve Months With 



Our cuckoos are not often heard "kooing" how- 

 ever, except in certain localities where they are 

 very plentiful. One is more likely, if he sees the 

 bird at all, to run into him by accident, as he slips 

 quietly about the deep shadows of the trees. He is 

 quite as active by night as at any other time, which 

 may account for his stealthy, almost bat-like move- 

 ments by day. 



It is said that the cuckoo sometimes deposits its 

 eggs in the nests of other birds, after the fashion of 

 the cowbird, although I have never seen an 

 instance of it. When it does build a nest of its 

 own, it is a poor excuse — a few loose sticks which 

 scarcely serve either to conceal the eggs or hold 

 the young when hatched. A pair of these birds 

 once built a frail nest of this character on a hori- 

 zontal limb of a maple tree in my front yard, 

 through which one could easily see the blue sky. 



The black-billed cuckoo is also quite common, 

 though not so frequently seen as his yellow-billed 

 cousin. The birds are very similar in appearance, 

 the only conspicuous distinguishing mark being 

 the color of the bill. 



May always brings an army of silver tongued 

 thrushes, and myriads of tiny tree-haunting war- 

 blers. The wood thrush is the finest songster of the 

 thrushes that spend the summer with us. Izaak 

 Walton's tribute to the nightingale is none too fine 

 for the wood thrush : 



