140 BY-WAYS AND BIRD-NOTES. 



it appears to be erratic in its laying, the eggS 

 in its own nest varying greatly in number and 

 in development stage. 



I have collected and arranged all the ob- 

 tainable facts on this subject, and my conclu- 

 sions in short are : That the cuckoo of North 

 America, more especially the Yellow-bill, may 

 be either slowly losing or slowly gaining the 

 egg-depositing or parasitic habit of the Old- 

 World species ; that it is exceedingly eccen- 

 tric, in connection with this habit, acting from 

 the impulse of accidental necessity on account 

 of an irregular fecundity. Its nest-building 

 habit will not admit of its rearing a large 

 brood of young ; its eggs must, therefore, be 

 divided among the nests of its neighbors : 

 that is, whenever the over-supply comes on. 

 The bird itself, as regards the two species 

 (black-billed and yellow-billed) with which I am 

 well acquainted, is very strangely sly, furtive, 

 and erratic in all its actions, affecting a close 

 observer with the impression that it is all the 

 time laboring under some restrictions or lim- 

 itations not common to birds in general. Its 

 movements are graceful, but there is in them 

 something that suggests unsubstantiality — the 

 lightness that comes of an ill-balanced nature. 



Its form is elongated and so accentuated 

 by its slender, curving bill and disproportion- 

 ally developed tail, that it. appears almost 

 serpent-like at times, as it creeps with a noise- 

 less gliding motion through the foliage. 

 There is never any evidence of happiness in 

 its actions or in the sound of its voice. On 

 the contrary, the cuckoo appears to be the 

 embodiment of aimlessness, restlessness, and 

 unmeaning discontent. Its solemn, almost 



