228 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



The haunts and habits of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo are 

 similar to those of the preceding species. It slips quietly 

 into the trees and then sits motionless, so that it is more 

 often heard than seen. Its notes have been described under 

 the preceding species. 



To distinguish the Yellow-billed Cuckoo from the Black- 

 billed it is necessary to get near enough to see the large 

 white sj^ots on the tips of the blackish tail-feathers, or the 

 yellow binder mandible, or to catch, as the bird flies, the 

 cinnamon in the iving. 



BIRDS OF PREY: ORDER RAPTORES 

 O^WLS: SUBORDER STRIGES 



HORNED CWLS, ETC. : FAMILY BUBONIDiE 



While seven or eight species of Owl occur in New York 

 and New England, only one, the Screech Owl, is at all com- 

 mon in inhabited regions. The Barred Owl and the Great 

 Horned Owl are the species most frequently heard in deep 

 forests. The other species are either uncommon and retiring 

 permanent residents, or rare or regular wanderers from the 

 north. The Snowy Owl and the Hawk Owl hunt by day, 

 and the Short-eared Owl is often seen in the daytime, but 

 the other Owls are nocturnal, hiding by day in some hollow 

 tree or thick evergreen. Here they are occasionally discov- 

 ered by a band of jays, crows, or smaller birds, who surround 

 or pursue them with great outcries. Owls bolt their prey 

 bones and all and then disgorge the indigestible portions 

 in the form of pellets ; their presence is, therefore, often 

 indicated by the appearance on tlie ground of numbers of 

 these gray pellets. They hoot at all seasons of the year, 

 but less commonly in summer and very constantly in late 

 winter and early spring. An Owl is easily recognized by its 



