Cuckoos SONGLESS BIRDS. 



ORDER COCCYGES: CUCKOOS, KING- 

 FISHERS, ETC. 



FAMILY CUCULID^E: CUCKOOS. 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Coccyzus americanua. 



PLATE 50. 



Length : 11-12 inches. 



Male and Female : Powerful beak, about as long as head ; lower 

 mandible yellow; above olive with gray and metallic tints; 

 two middle tail feathers olive ; outer quills black, with white 

 spots ; wings washed with bright cinnamon ; under parts gray- 

 ish white. 



Note: " Kuk-kuk-kuk ! " a harsh, grating sound. 



Season : Late April to September. 



Breeds : From Florida to New Brunswick. 



Nest : Rudimentary ; only a few sticks laid in a bush or on a forked 

 bough. 



Eggs : 4-8, pale green, sometimes little more than a greenish white. 



Range: Temperate North America, from New Brunswick, Canada, 

 Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon south to Costa Rica and the 

 West Indies. Less common from the eastern border of the 

 Plains westward. 



Of similar general appearance to the next species, this 

 Cuckoo may be identified by the following marks: yellow 

 bill, bright cinnamon wings, and white spots on the long tail 

 feathers which are very conspicuous in flight. A few years 

 ago the Yellow-billed Cuckoo was not a common bird here ; 

 but it seemed to follow the recent epidemic of tent-worms 

 into Connecticut, and for the past two seasons has been 

 abundant in orchards and gardens containing fruit trees, 

 forgetting its shyness, and coming close to dwellings. Its 

 hatred of the tent-worm is intense, for it destroys many 

 more than it can eat, by tearing the webs apart, and squeez- 

 ing the worms in its beak. So thoroughly has it done its 

 work, that orchards, which three years ago were almost 

 leafless, the trunks even being covered by slippery web- 

 bing, are again yielding a good crop. 

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