296 THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 



firmly to the branches by their feet, that our attempts to dislodge them were 

 of no avail, and we were obliged to reach them with the hand. On now 

 looking at all these young birds, our surprise was indeed great, as no two of 

 them were of the same size, which clearly shewed that they had been 

 hatched at different periods, and I should suppose the largest to have been 

 fully three weeks older than any of the rest. Mr. Rhett assured us that he 

 had observed the same in another nest placed in a tree within a few paces of 

 his house, and which he also shewed to us. He stated that eleven young 

 Cuckoos had' been successively hatched and reared in it, by the same pair of 

 old birds, in one season, and that young birds and eggs were to be seen in it 

 at the same time for many weeks in succession. 



On thinking since of this strange fact, I have felt most anxious to discover 

 how many eggs the Cuckoo of Europe drops in one season. If it, as I 

 suspect, produces, as our bird does, not less than eight or ten, or what may 

 be called the amount of two broods, in a season, this circumstance would 

 connect the two species in a still more intimate manner than theoretical 

 writers have supposed them to be allied. And if our Cow-pen-bird also 

 drops eight or ten eggs in a season, which she probably does, that number 

 might be considered as the amount of two broods, which the Red-winged 

 Starling usually produces. 



I requested Mr. Rhett to write me a letter on the subject, which he did, 

 but, to my great mortification, I am unable to find it. Having mentioned 

 the above facts to my friend Dr. T. M. Brewer, and desired him to pay 

 particular attention to these birds while breeding, he has sent me the follow- 

 ing note. 



"The fact which you intimated to me last July I have myself observed. 

 The female evidently commences incubation immediately after laying her 

 first egg. Thus I have found in the nest of both species of our Cuckoos one 

 egg quite fresh, while in another the chick will be just bursting the shell; 

 and again I have found an egg just about to be hatched while others are 

 already so, and some of the young even about to fly. These species are not 

 uncommon in Massachusetts, where both breed; and both are much more 

 numerous some years than others." 



I found the Yellow-billed Cuckoo plentiful and breeding in the Texas; 

 and it is met with, on the other hand, in Nova Scotia, and even in Labrador, 

 where I saw a few. It has been observed on the Columbia river by Mr. 

 Townsend. No mention is made of it in the Fauna Boreali-Americana. 

 Many spend the winter in the most southern portions of the Floridas. 



The eggs measure one inch three and a half eighths in length, seven and a 

 quarter eighths in breadth, and are, as already described, of a uniform 

 greenish-blue colour. They are longer, as well as lighter in their general 



