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 showed 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 
