BIRD BANDING 
153 
apparently not more than two or three days old, was captured 
on the beach near camp. After a. considerable chase the young- 
sters were assembled in a hat where they were kept temporarily 
confined while the process of banding occurred; during this time 
the female flew about calling continually and apparently in great 
distress. After the young were banded the hat was pinned so 
that the birds could not escape and then left upon the beach with 
its precious contents. The , observers all having selected hiding 
places, the distracted female cautiously approached the place, i.e. 
the hat, from which the faint chirps of the young birds could be 
heard, finally coming to stand directly on the hat calling constant- 
ly but giving no indication to us that she was aware of the prox- 
imity of her family; later she scurried away again as if not cer- 
tain of the place from which the call notes of the fledglings issued. 
Fig. 27. Young Black-billed Cuckoos and bird banding paraphernalia. 
Black-billed Cuckoo. C occyzus, erythrophthalmus {Wih.) . The 
black-billed cuckoo is much the commoner species of the region 
and we were privileged to study the inhabitants of two nests. 
On July 14 a nest about three miles from the Station was visited. 
This nest was in a low balsam tree about four feet from the 
ground and at the side of a trail leading into a bog. It was a 
shallow, saucer-shaped platform composed of coarse twigs and 
lined with willow catkins, well protected from sun and wind. 
Upon our arrival the brooding female remained on the nest while 
the photographic apparatus was set up within three feet of her 
and several exposures were made. In the meantime the male 
repeatedly gave a series of low koor - uck - uck - uck alarm notes 
