LAND BIRDS. 339 



with protective stinging hairs, like^he lo caterpillar and the various species 

 of Vanessa, are eaten freely. Large quantities of beetles and bugs also are 

 consumed, and both species of cuckoo seem to be very fond of grasshoppers, 

 eating especially such forms as frequent shrubbery and trees, among these 

 the destructive tree crickets {G^canthus). Ten specimens examined by 

 Professor Aughey, in Nebraska, contained 416 locusts and grasshoppers, 

 and 152 other insects. 



In Michigan the cuckoos seem to eat very little fruit, but farther south 

 they have been known to feed freely on elder-berries and mulberries, and 

 they doubtless eat other small fruits to some extent. They, however, 

 never become actual enemies of the horticulturist in this way. 



The only serious charge ever brought against the cuckoo, so far as we 

 know, is that of robbing the nests of other birds. This crime was ascribed 



Fig. 85. Nest, egg and young of Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 

 From photograph by Thomas T,. Hanklnson. 



to the bird years ago, and several of the older writers have adduced some 

 proof in support of it. Audubon, Wilson and Nuttall all state that the 

 cuckoo is known to suck the eggs of other birds, and one would infer from 

 their statements that considerable damage was done in this wa3^ Recent 

 observers, however, have pretty generally failed to corroborate these 

 statements, and several of our best naturalists, whose opportunities for 

 observation have been ample, state positively that they see no reason to 

 believe these charges. Personally, the only evidence of this habit which 

 we have seen lies in the fact that many species of the smaller birds attack 

 the cuckoo and drive it away from their nests, even following it some 

 distance and treating it very much as they Avould Crows, Blue Jays and 

 Bronzed Grackles, which are known sometimes to rob nests. These actions, 

 however, are susceptible of another explanation, for in flight and general 

 appearance the cuckoo is not unlike some of the smaller hawks and very 

 possibly other birds may mistake them for birds of prey. 



