CUCKOO NOTES. 149 



should be protected and their propagation en- 

 couraged, as they are the saviours of our for- 

 ests, our orchards, and our hedges. 



Looking over my cuckoo-notes, I find re- 

 minders in them of all the sweetest woodland 

 solitudes between the Great Lakes and the 

 Gulf. The bubbling of the cold trout-brooks 

 of the Leelenaw blends with the lazy swash of 

 the Pearl River and the Kissimmee. 



But I must hasten to remark that, contrary to 

 what one is led to expect, in all the low country 

 of the South the cuckoos are scarce, even in 

 mid-winter. In the region of Lake Okeechobee 

 and on the outskirt of the Everglades close ob- 

 servation failed to certainly note even the spe- 

 cies C. seniculus or mangrove-cuckoo. From 

 the fact that the Yellow-bill is found on the 

 Pacific coast and in parts of the Southern 

 Rocky Mountains, it is probable that its winter 

 resort may be chiefly in Mexico and Central . 

 America. In March I saw a few specimens 

 haunting the oak groves on the high-lands be- 

 tween Tallahassee, Florida, and Thomasville, 

 Georgia, and I was told that their nests were 

 sometimes seen there. 



So many cuckoo legends have gone afloat 

 —each adding something uncanny or roman- 

 tic to the popular opinion of our harmless bird 

 — that I am tempted to close this paper with 

 one current in the southern mountainous region, 

 to the effect that the Yellow-bill cannot be killed 

 by a rifle-shot if its breast be turned towards 

 the shooter. I once attempted to demon- 

 strate the fallacy of this claim for the benefit 

 of a hard-headed old mountaineer and was un- 

 lucky enough to miss my bird ! 



" Ther' ! " he exclaimed, " what'd I tell ye ! 



