A LESSON IN NATURAL HISTORY 129 



I hurried out into the grove for the bird, and 

 was gone about fifteen minutes, when I returned, 

 bringing a yellow-billed cuckoo. As I laid it be- 

 fore the old naturalist I ventured to say that it 

 was the only bad bird I knew, except the cow-bird 

 and the English sparrow. 



The face of the old naturalist darkened with 

 disapproval at sight of the bird and still more at 

 my words. 



"No! no!" he replied. "That's one of the 

 most useful birds we have. You should have 

 brought an English sparrow. 



"Notice now when I open the gizzard how this 

 bird has befriended you. His gizzard will be 

 lined will be stuck full of caterpillar hairs, as 

 full as a piece of plush with pile. ' ' 



And while he had been speaking the delicate 

 skin had been removed without a drop of blood or 

 a broken feather ! And there before my wonder- 

 ing eyes was the gizzard, turned inside out, and 

 stuck as full of caterpillar hairs as the caterpillar 

 himself ! 



A "bad" bird? No, rather, as the old natural- 

 ist said, it is one of the most useful birds we have. 

 It eats the hairy caterpillars that most other 

 birds refuse ; and in June when the canker worms 



