TIIK YELLOW BILLED CUCKOO £3 



drab — or gray-brown and its white under surface from throal 

 to tail. To carry out this color scheme to its Logical se- 

 quence, the upper mandible is dusky brown and the lower 

 one is yellow. 



This bird derives one of its common names — Rain-'* ( "row" 

 — from the faet that its peculiar cry is heard oftenest on still 

 and cloudy summer 

 days — two conditions 

 which to the weather- 

 wise farmer always por- 

 tend rain. Its cry is a 

 weird, gurgling note 

 which sounds like 

 "Cowk-co w k - c o w k - 

 cowk!" and usually it 

 comes from the heart 



YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 



of a thick bush or tree 



which effectually screens the bird. It seems to be fully aware of 

 the dangers which beset all birds which attempt to lice in the 

 open with civilized man, for it lives amid the fores! shadows. 

 This bird, and also its twin species, the Black-Billed 

 Cuckoo, lives almost wholly upon insects. ( >f 155 Cuckoo 

 stomachs examined by the Department of Agriculture, only 

 one contained any vegetable food two small berries. Nearly 

 half the Cuckoo's food proved to be caterpillars. 2,771 of 

 which wen* found in HO stomachs. It was not uncommon 

 for one bird to contain more than 100 of them. "During 

 May and June, when tent-caterpillar^ are defoliating the fruit 

 trees, these insects constitute half of the Cuckoo's food." 



