BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO 163 



The Yellow-billed is especially fond of the de- 

 structive caterpillars that make the large web 

 nests in our fruit-trees. Re- 

 mains of 43 of these caterpil- 

 lars were found in the stomach 

 of one bird shot at six o'clock 

 in the morning. But it was f \M 



not only this early bird that ttk^___ '- ■ .'/J 

 got the worm, for in 21 stom- i"- "•' 



achs examined there were 355 Section of Cuckoo 

 caterpillars and 23 grasshop- 

 pers, in addition to a collection of saw-flies, po- 

 tato bugs, and other insects. One stomach con- 

 tained 217 fall web-worms ! 



Black-billed Cuckoo : Coccyzus erythroplithalmus. 



Upper parts grayish brown, with slight green g'loss ; wings and 

 tail the same, only slightly tijjped with white ; under parts 

 white ; bill black. Length, about llf inches. 



Geographic Distribution. — North America east of the 

 Rocky Mountains ; breeds as far north as Labrador and As- 

 siniboia, and winters in Central and South America. 



The Black-billed Cuckoo is very much like the 

 Yellow-billed, but lacks the reddish brown wings, 

 black tail, yellow mandible, and the heavy thumb- 

 marks on the tail of the Yellow-billed (Figs. 86, 

 87, p. 104). The call of the Yellow-billed is given 

 as tut-tut, tut-tut, cl-uck-cl-uch-cl-uch-d-ucl'-d-uch- 

 cl-uck, core, coic, coic, cote, coio, coio ; while the 

 Black-billed, it is said, has the cow notes con- 

 nected, and has altogether a much softer voice. 



