392 BRITISH BIRDS. 
motionless as statues for a long time, especially when crying out, or when 
they have detected a suspicious object. They court the seclusion of the 
thickest foliage. Their curiosity is not small, and they may be observed 
to frequently peer down with inquisitive looks through the dense foliage, 
trying to make out some unusual object.” 
The food of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is composed largely of caterpillars, 
and on these its young are chiefly fed. It also eats other insects, small 
shells, soft fruits, and various kinds of berries. 
Unlike our Cuckoo, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo both builds a nest and 
hatches and rears its own young. The nest is generally placed in trees 
and large bushes, often in a fruit-tree, or in a cedar, a crab, or a thorn. 
t is very carelessly put together, and composed of small sticks loosely 
mixed with grass, and is almost as slight and flat as the nest of a Pigeon. 
The eggs are from three to five in number, of a uniform pea-green, and 
measure from 1°4 to 1:1 inch in length, and from ‘98 to ‘83 inch in 
breadth. The shell is somewhat rough in texture, and possesses little or 
no gloss. A curious fact in the nesting-economy of the Yellow-billed 
Cuckoo is that the eggs are frequently laid at such intervals that young 
birds and freshly deposited eggs may be seen in the nest at the same time, 
the warmth from the young birds assisting in incubating them. Although 
this species of Cuckoo is not a parasite like so many others of this group 
of remarkable birds, there seems to be considerable evidence that it 
occasionally drops an egg into the nests of other birds (Allen, Bull. Nutt. 
Orn. Club, 1877, p. 110) ; whilst Ridgway states that its eggs have been 
found in the nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo. It is acknowledged, how- 
ever, that few birds are so anxious for the safety of their eggs and young 
as the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Like the watchful wary Stormeock of our 
own woods and groves, the male Yellow-billed Cuckoo is ever on the alert 
to drive away any prowling bird or beast from the vicinity of its nest, and 
will even flutter along the ground in a seemingly helpless manner to allure 
the intruder from the presence of its eggs or young. The old birds also 
seem much attached to each other, and should one be wounded its mate 
will often show much affection and anxiety for its fate. 
This species often migrates southwards in immense flocks, and has been 
noticed on the Bermudas in thousands, passing on to its winter-quarters in 
Central and South America. 
The general colour of the upper parts, including the two centre tail- 
feathers, is uniform buffish brown, with a greenish metallic gloss; the re- 
maining feathers of the tail, which is much graduated, are nearly black, 
with broad white tips, and the primaries are suffused with buffish chestnut, 
especially on the inner webs. The underparts are nearly pure white. 
The upper mandible is nearly black, yellow at the base, and the under 
mandible is yellow, nearly black at the tip; legs, feet, and claws slate- 
