404 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
neither. The first sound is like that made by clicking 
the tongue rapidly against the roof of the mouth; the 
second sounds like cow-cow-cow-cow-cow repeated in 
quick succession. By this you will know that the Yellow- 
billed Cuckoo has come. 
“You will be disappointed when first you see the bird 
itself, for it does not in the least resemble the bird of the 
Yellow- English poets, who lives in Cuckoo clocks and 
billed bobs out to tell the hours. Neither is it a lazy 
Cuckoo —_ bird who refuses to build a nest and leaves its 
eggs to the care of others like the Cowbird. 
“This Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a slender bird cloaked 
in brownish gray, of a soft hue and with a light belly. 
The tail feathers are tipped with white, so that, as you look 
at the bird from below, it shows large white spots. This 
Cuckoo takes its name because the lower part of its bill 
is yellow, but you will scarcely notice this when he is in 
the trees, where he spends the greater part of his time in 
searching for insects and caterpillars, which are his fa- 
vourite food. 
“The nest is a shallow, rather shiftless sort of an affair, 
and very often has so little lining that if the vine or bush 
in which it is placed tips a little, the pale blue eggs are 
in danger of rolling out. What the Cuckoos lack in house- 
keeping thrift they make up as destroyers of harmful 
insects, and here it has helped to keep the old orchard 
alive by tearing apart the nests of the tent caterpillar 
and eating the inhabitants. These mischievous caterpillars 
used to be content to live in the wild cherry trees that line 
the roads and old pastures. People cut these down in 
consequence, so after a time the caterpillar found that 
