Yellow-billed Cuckoo 219 



Description.^ — ^Above greyish-brown with a slight bronzy lustre, 

 becoming more rufous on the wings ; the inner webs of the wing-quills 

 largely light rufous ; tail graduated, the three outer-pairs of feathers 

 black, tipped with white ; the outer pair white along the outer web 

 as well ; below white ; iris brown, bill with upper mandible and tip of 

 lower, black, rest of lower and cutting-edges of both yellow, legs plum- 

 beous. Length 10'75 ; wing 5-5 ; tail 5-5; culmen -93; tarsus 1-1. 



Young birds have less white on the tail and the black not so pure. 



Distribution. — Breeding in eastern North America, from Nova Scotia 

 and South Dakota south to the Gulf States and West Indies ; in winter, 

 south through eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. 



The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a rare siunmer visitor to Colorado 

 chiefly met with on the eastern plains, but occasionally penetrating 

 into the mountains up to 8,000 feet. It was noticed breeding in Middle 

 Park by Carter ; it wbs taken at Fort Lyon by Thorne, and there is an 

 example from Ramah in El Paso co., obtained June 4th, in the Aiken 

 collection. Miss Eggleston states that it is a summer resident at Grand 

 Junction, and that a pair nested several seasons in an orchard there 

 (Rockwell). 



Cooke referred the Yellow-billed Cuckoo of Colorado to the western 

 subspecies C. a. occidentalie, but two examples in the Aiken collection, 

 from Ramah and from Gem, Thomas co., Kans, undoubtedly belong 

 to the smaller race. Possibly the birds from the western slope are 

 nearer the western form. 



Habits. — ^The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is often called the 

 " Rain Crow," or the " Kow-Kow," the former because 

 it is more noisy when the atmosphere is moist, the latter 

 from its note. It is an arboreal bird, keeping itself 

 concealed in thick trees, and is more often heard than 

 seen. It feeds chiefly on caterpillars, and will devour 

 even the more hairy and spiny forms rejected by other 

 birds. In some cases the stomach-walls have been found 

 full of these spines, without any apparent injury to the 

 birds. They also eat other insects and fruits, and have 

 been accused, but on doubtful evidence, of sucking 

 other birds' eggs. 



The nest in a shallow, frail structure, poorly put together, 

 placed low down in bushes or vines. The eggs, three 

 to five in number, are light bluish-green in colour ; they 



