YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO 



Called also: Rain Crow 



T^O YOU own a cuckoo clock with a little bird 

 ^-^ inside that flies out of a door every hour 

 and tells you the time ? Except when it is time to 

 go to school or to bed you are doubtless amused 

 to hear him hiccough cuckoo, cuckoo, the me- 

 chanical notes that tell his name. Cuckoo 

 clocks were first made in Europe where the 

 common species of cuckoo calls in this way, 

 but don't imagine its American cousins do. 

 Our yellow-billed cuckoo's unmusical, guttural 

 notes sound something like a tree toad's 

 rattle, kuk-kuk, kuk-kuk, kuk-kuk, kr-r-r-uck, kr- 

 r-r-uck, kr-r-r-uck, kr-r-ruck, cow, cow, cow, 

 cow! This is his complete "song," but usually 

 one hears only a portion of it. The black- 

 billed cuckoo's voice is softer, and its cow notes 

 run together, otherwise their "songs" are alike. 

 Both of our common cuckoos are slim, grace- 

 ful birds about twelve inches long — longer than 

 a robin. They are solitary creatures and glide 

 silently among the foliage of trees and shrub- 

 bery, rarely giving you a good look at their 

 satiny, grayish-brown backs and dull-white 



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