144 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



we hear "c,c,c,c,cow! cow! cow!" from a lone 

 tree or from the edge of the woods. From its 

 rhythm the cry has been compared to the distant 

 whetting of a scythe, though it is not in the least 

 a metallic sound. 



Solitary in habit and shy in disposition, the 

 Cuckoos are known by voice, rather than by 

 sight, over most of the Eastern United States. 

 The Black-billed Cuckoo is common over the 

 more northern part of its range; the Yellow- 

 billed is the commoner Southern bird. Their 

 habits are very similar. 



Neither is a good nest-builder, though none of 

 our American Cuckoos ever becomes so lazy as 

 to leave its egg in the home of another bird to be 

 hatched and reared, like the European species. 

 The nest is little more than a shabby platform 

 of loosely laid sticks in a low tree or bush, soft- 

 ened by grasses and dry oak tassels, but so 

 thinly that the three to five pale greenish blue 

 eggs may sometimes be seen through it from 

 below. The eggs are not always laid at regular 

 periods, one each day as is usual among birds. 

 Intervals of some days sometimes elapse, thus 

 frequently causing the nest to contain young 

 birds and fresh eggs at the same time. The eggs 

 of the Black-billed Cuckoo are rather smaller and 

 darker than those of the other species. 



This is one of our most useful birds in the 



