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of this remarkable cuckoo. Collectors of repute have discovered 

 numbers of pairs nesting together; they have been seen laying 

 their eggs in the nests of other birds; when the clutch is large 

 (5-7) the birds hatch out irregularly often, as the parents com- 

 mence sitting as soon as one egg is laid; they will lay, as already 

 stated, in the nest of the Yellow-billed cuckoo; they easily desert 

 their nests if any way disturbed, and they have several other ec- 

 centricities of this nature. Perhaps one of the most curious in- 

 stances is that given by Mr. J. L. Davison, of Lockport, New 

 York, who says on "June 17, 1882, I found a Black-billed cuckoo 

 and a Mourning dove sitting on a Eobin's nest together. The 

 cuckoo was the first to leave the nest. On securing this I found 

 it contained two eggs of the Cuckoo, two of the Mourning dove, 

 and one Eobin's egg. The Robin had not quite finished the nest 

 when the Cuckoo took possession of it and filled it nearly full of 

 rootlets; but the Robin got in and laid one egg. Incubation had 

 commenced in the Robin and Cuckoo eggs, but not in the Mourn- 

 ing dove's eggs. I have the nest and eggs in my collection." 



The non-arboreal Road-runner or Chaparral cock (Geococcyx 

 californianus) is chiefly found in the southwestern regions of our 

 country, being largely confined to the desert lands, and far less 

 often found in the foothills of the skirting mountain ranges. This 

 bird is a large, handsome Ground cuckoo, of an aberrant type, 

 and evidently affined with other avian groups. Years ago I 

 printed an account of its anatomy in the Proceedings of the Zoo- 

 logical Society of London : its osteology in the Journal of Anatomy, 

 of Edinburgh, and a colored figure of its head in The Ibis (Lon- 

 don). In the latter I pointed out the naked skin tract on the 

 back of the head, which during life is of a brilliant scarlet color. 



These birds are usually found singly on the prairies, though 

 the half-grown young follow their mother about some time after 

 leaving the nest. This latter, a shallow, fiat affair is commonly 

 built on the ground, in low bushes, on cactus plants, or even in 

 small trees, very rarely above sixteen feet from the ground. It is 

 made of small sticks and lightly lined with grass. The unspotted 

 white eggs vary from two to nine in the set, and the bird has a 

 few of the incubatory vagaries of the arboreal cuckoos described 

 above. However, they do not desert their nests when discov- 

 ered, and the parents are very solicitous of their young. Often 

 I have seen both chicks and adults of this species kept in cages, 

 and they make very interesting and affectionate pets. Geococcyx 



