552 
ZYGODACTYLI. 
it has received, in Virginia and other states, the name of 
Rain-Crow , and also Kow-Bird. At various seasons, 
during the continuance of warm weather, the vigil hoio 
how how hoiv of the faithful male is uttered for hours, 
at intervals, throughout the night. The same notes, 
but delivered in a slower and rather tender strain, are 
given with great regularity likewise in the day as long 
as the period of incubation continues. He often stead- 
fastly watches any approach to the nest, going to it oc- 
casionally to assure himself that it is unmolested ; and, 
at times, he may be observed darting even at the dor- 
mant bat, who accidentally seeks repose beneath the 
shady leaves of some contiguous tree, so that he is no less 
vigilant in seeking the security of his own progeny, than 
in piratically robbing the nests of his neighbours. There 
are two or three other species in Jamaica and other parts 
of tropical America, possessing a note very similar to 
that of our bird, which also frequently approaches, when 
delivered in the plaintive mood, hoo hoo , and hoo hoo hoo , 
the usual sound of the European Cuckoo. There is a 
Mexican species ( Cuculus ridibundus) which so simu- 
lates laughter, as to have awakened the superstition of 
the natives, by whom it is consequently hated as a mes- 
senger of misfortune, whose accidental note of sardon- 
ic risibility, is construed into an ominous delight in 
misery. 
The whole tribe of Cuckoos are in disgrace for the un- 
natural conduct of the European and some other foreign 
species, who, making no nests, nor engaging in conjugal 
cares, parasitically deposit their eggs, one by one, in the 
nests of other, small birds, to whom the care of rearing 
the vagrant foundling is uniformly consigned. This 
whitish and darkly spotted egg, so different from that of 
our dubious species, is supposed to be conveyed into sev- 
