I30 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



cuckoo-clock, its performance does not even re- 

 motely suggest the American Cuckoo's song 

 which, in fact, is simply a series of guttural 

 cliitcks and clucks, most unbird-like and wholly 

 unnuisical. Finally, the English bird has a de- 

 cidedly Hawk-like appearance, while the Ameri- 

 can species looks a little like an attenuated 

 pigeon, with a disproportionately long neck and 

 tail. 



The comparatively slight difference between 

 the appearance and habits of the two species, the 

 Yellow-billed and the Black-billed, makes it 

 proper to consider them jointly. Sometimes Mrs. 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo employs Mrs. Black-billed 

 to bring up her children, and at other times the 

 Black-billed offspring are deposited in the Yel- 

 low-billed home. Both species are known as the 



Cuurtesy of Nat. Asso. Av] Sm, 

 YOUNG YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO 



" Rain Crow " because of the belief — especially 

 among farmers — that their guttural cry predicts 

 rain. But why " Crow," a bird which is uni- 

 formly and famously black all over, while the 

 Cuckoo varies from white to brown, but is essen- 

 tially a light-colored bird? This is one of the 

 queerest freaks of popular terminology, and sug- 

 gests that we have to thank for it somebody who 

 couldn't tell black from white. 



Both of these Cuckoos are essentially birds of 

 mystery. Not only in their rather unearthly call, 

 but in their specter-like comings and goings, and 

 general behavior, they are not like unto other 

 birds. So one is not surprised to learn that the 

 Black-billed, at any rate, is a riest-robber, and is 

 generally recognized as such in the bird-world. 

 Mr. Burroughs mentions three instances in which 

 Robins have actually killed Cuckoos ; in one case 

 the Robins caught the robber in the very act, 

 and so pecked and mauled him that he died of 



his injuries. Audubon gave the same bad charac- 

 ter to the Yellow-billed, which, he said, " robs 

 smaller birds of their eggs which it sucks upon 

 all occasions, and is cowardly without being 

 vigilant. On this account it falls prey to several 

 species of Hawks, of which the Pigeon Hawk 

 may be considered its most dangerous enemy." 

 But the Pigeon Hawk is the enemy of all birds 

 that it can overtake and kill, and these include 

 many species larger than itself. 



In his manner the Cuckoo gives the impres- 

 sion of being deeply preoccupied and quite absent- 

 minded. He slips in and out of trees like a 

 ghost. Upon first alighting, he looks about him 

 as if he were dazed, but almost immediately re- 

 covers himself and proceeds to search for his 

 preferred fare of " tent " caterpillars of which 

 lie destroys great numbers, thereby placing him- 

 self in the category of highly useful birds. In 

 flight, the Yellow-billed species is readily identi- 

 fiable by the white markings on its long tail. 

 These markings are different from those shown 

 in the tail of the Mourning Dove, which other- 

 wise — though after all very faintly — resembles 

 the Cuckoo. George Gl.\dden. 



The California, or ^^^estern, Cuckoo ( Coc- 

 cycns aincricaiiiis occidentalis ) is the western 

 replica of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo from which 

 it differs only in size. 



The Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccv^'is minor 

 minor) and the Bahama Mangrove, or May- 

 nard's, Cuckoo ( Coccy::iis minor inaynardi) are 

 found in the Florida Keys and the West Indies 

 south through Mexico to Central America and 

 northern South America. They are plain gray- 

 ish-brown above, faintly glossed with bronzy; 

 the tail-feathers are tipped with white, the middle 

 pair more narrowly than the others ; upper parts 

 of sides of head dull black ; the underparts are 

 dull ochraceous-bufif or cinnamon-buff ; their 

 bills are black above and yellow underneath. 

 Maynard's Cuckoo is smaller than the Mangrove 

 Cuckoo. 



Probably no group of insects contains a greater 

 number of orchard pests than the order Lep- 

 idoptera, which comprises butterflies and moths, 

 with their larvse, or caterpillars. Tent caterpil- 

 lars, cankerworms, fall webworms, tussock 

 moths, and a host of others are among the worst 

 enemies of the fruit grower. It is, therefore, 

 fortunate that there are in the United States 

 two birds that subsist, to a great extent, upon 

 caterpillars, apparently preferring them to any 

 other food. These are the Cuckoos, the Yellow- 

 billed and the Black-billed. 



