was published in the Field Naturalists’ Magazine in January
1883. Mr. Ball, of Dublin Castle, in a letter to the editor
made known the capture of the -first specimen, which was shot
near Youghal, in the county of Cork, in the autumn of 1825.
When brought to Mr. Ball by the butler of a gentleman in
the neighbourhood, who had shot it but a few mifiutes before,
it was still warm and bleeding. The second, was shot
at a litter period at Old Connaught, near Bray. The Cornwall
specimen was the subject of a private communication, and
the fourth was shot on the estate of Lord Cawdor in Wales
during the autumn of 1882. This last example has now,
by the liberality of his lordship, been deposited in the national
collection at the British Museum, and one,- if not
both, of the specimens killed in Ireland, were exhibited at
the Zoological Society by Mr. Thompson of Belfast in
June 1885f
This Bird, says Mr. Audubon, in the first volume of his
American Ornithological Biography, “ I have met with- in all
the low grounds and damp places in Massachusets, along the
line of Upper Canada, pretty high on • the Mississippi and
Arkansas, and in every state between these. boundary lines.
Its appearance in the state of New York seldom takes place
before the beginning of May, and at Green Bay not until, the
middle of that month.” ; The most frequent note of this bird
sounds so much like the word u cow,” frequently repeated,
that it has obtained the general appellation, of Cow-bird;
and from being particularly vociferous before rain, it is in
some states called the Rain-crow. Unlike our English
Cuckoo, this American species builds a nest and rears its
young with great assiduity; but it sometimes robs' smaller
birds of their eggs, and its own egg, which is not easily mistaken
from its particular colour, is occasionally found in another
bird’s nest; Mr. Audubon says, “ That its own nest is
simple, flat, composed of a few dry sticks and grass, formed
much like that of the common Dove; the eggs are four or
five in number,' of a uniform»-spotless greenish blue colour,”
one inch two lines in length b]f eight lines in breadth.
Wilson says that, “ while the female is sitting, the male is
generally not far distant, and gives the alarm, by his notes,
when any person is approaching. The female sits so close
that you may almost reach her with yoiirhand, and then precipitates
herself to i the ground, feigning lameness, to draw you
away from the spot,-sfluttering, trailing her wings, and tumbling
over, in the manner of the Partridge, Woodcock, and
many other species. .Both 'parents^Hnitei in providing food
for the, young. This consists, for- ithe most part, of caterpillars,
particularly such as infest* .apple1 trees. The same
sorbmf insects constitute the chief part of thelr own sustenance;
They are accused, and with'some justice^ of sucking
the feggs ofioth&r birds, like -the Crow, the Blue Jay, and
othe*rpillagers. They also occasionallyl&at various kinds of
berries.5 Bub,11 from the - circumstance >: of destroying* such
numbers of-very noxibus- larvae, "&ey prove themselves ‘the
friends, of the farmer,, a n d 1 are highly deserving' of his pro-
t&ction.’kis
* As every newly ascertained fact in the reproduction of the
species among the Cubkoos is a matter of interest, I here
append some; recent^ additions by Mr. Audubon, inserted in.
his fiftli volume.
“ Whilst i'at Charlestown in South Carolina, in the early
part of June* 1837, I was invited by J . S. Rhett, Esq. residing
in the; suburbs lof that city, to visit hisgrounds for t ||f
purpose of viewing the nest of'fheYellow-billed Cuckoo.
This I did in company with my friend Dr. Si Wilson, and
w.eiJbnnd; »ourselves highly1 gratified, as we were enabled to
make the following observations :—
A nestj which was placed near the centre of a tree of moderate
size, was reached by a son of the gentleman on whose