80XGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD ASD WOODLAXD. 265 



Cuckoos, the Black-billed Cuckoo is the more common in 

 Massachusetts, and is therefore probably the more useful. 

 Grasshoppers, locusts, and other insects are often eaten, but 

 practically no cultivated fruit and no grain. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 

 Coccyzus americanus. 



Length. About twelve inches. 



Adult. Bill black above, yellow beneath; upper parts olive-brown, with gray 

 tints and metallic lusters; under parts white; a bright cinnamon tint on 

 wings ; two inner tail feathers olive ; outer tail feathers blackish, two with 

 white outer edge : all but two inner tail feathers broadly tipped with white. 



Nest. A loose mass of sticks, in a bush or tree. 



Eggs. Usually larger and lighter colored than those of the preceding species. 



Season. May to September. 



This bird is long and slender, but it is a little larger and 

 more robust in appearance than the Black-billed Cuckoo. A 

 near view will show the yellow of the under mandible and 



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^fw^ 



Fig. 122. The fall web worm. The caterpillars (a, b, c) are eaten by Cuckoos. 



the characteristic markings of the tail, which serve to distin- 

 guish the bird in the field. Moreover, the notes of this 

 species are heavier and coarser than those of the Black-billed 

 Cuckoo. Schuyler Mathews well describes a characteristic 

 cry of this bird as Gr-r-r-olp, cowlp, cou'lp-olp-olp. All this 

 is delivered with little if any variation in tone, and in a voice 

 seemingly as deep as that of a Heron. 



