THE CALIFORNIA CUCKOO. 453 



becoming lighter on continued exposure, .^v. size, 1. 31 x .94 (33.3x23.9). 

 Season : June-,\ugust ; one brood. 



General Range. — Western temperate North .America from northern Lower 

 CaUfornia north to southern British Cohunbia. east to New Mexico and western 

 Texas, and south over tablelands of Mexico. 



Range in Washington. — Rare summer resident, chiefly west of Cascades. 



Authorities. — [■■Yellow-billed cuckoo" Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T., 1884 

 (1885), 22J. Lawrence, .Auk, \'ol. IX.. No. I, Jan. 1892, p. 44. T.(?) L". D'. 

 Ra. B. E. 



Specimens. — ( U. of. W.) Prov. E. 



IT IS possible that these birds are really more numerous in Wash- 

 ington, west of the Cascades, than is generally supposed. They are, how- 

 ever, extremely shy and retiring in their habits, and very local in distribution. 

 The latter characteristic is carried to .such an extent that they may almost 

 be said to colonize. For example, the only place they ma\- be found wnth 

 certainty, near Tacoma, is in a small area well within the citv limits and 

 surrounded by houses. In this small space four or fi\e pairs mav be found 

 at any time during the summer. 



Their harsh krow-kroin'-kroiv-krozv. and the more plaintive knt-kru. 

 kni-kru. is most often heard along the outskirts of some swamp encircled 

 by a heavy growth of brush and small conifers mixed with deciduous trees. 

 From the krow-krow note the birds have gained the name Rain Crow, popular 

 superstition pointing out the fact that it usually rains soon afterward (an 

 occurrence not at all unlikely to happen in western ^^'ashington, irrespective 

 of the suggestion of the Cuckoo). 



Their food consists entirel}' of caterpillars, spiders, and other insects, 

 this being perhaps the only bird to make war extensively upon the tent- 

 caterpillar. Tlie poem, "He sucks little birds' eggs to make his voice 

 clear," etc., applies only to the Cuckoi) of Europe. Small birds, it is true. 

 are very often seen in pursuit of a Cuckoo, but this mtist be purelv on 

 account of its close resemblance in form to that of their arch-enemy, the 

 Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



The nest is rather a frail structure, tho much more bulky than nests 

 of the Black-billed or Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It is placed from four to 

 ten feet from the ground, usually nearer ten, and is most often built against 

 the trunk of a baby fir. The materials used consist of coarse dead twigs, 

 heavily lined with coarse tree-moss and sprays of dead fir needles. 



The eggs are two or three in number, most often three, and are laid 

 from the second week in June to the first of July. They are a pale bluisli 

 green in color, overlaid with a light chalky deposit, somewhat like that found 

 on Cormorant eggs. In shape they vary from long to rounded oval, and 



