YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 



387. Coccyzus americanns. \2% inches. 



Although very quiet, solemn and of retiring habits, 

 and by some regarded with superstition, these birds 

 are one of our most valuable, for they are one of the 

 very few that will eat the fuzzy tent caterpillar which 

 is so destructive to trees. Their wings are short but 

 broad and rounded, and their tail is long and broad 

 so that their flight is a quiet, easy gliding motion that 

 allows them to slip through the trees, often unnoticed 

 until after they utter their strange song. 



Song. A low, guttural croak; cow, cow, cow, etc., 

 repeated many times; and cow-uh, cow-uh, cow-uh, also 

 repeated. 



Nest. A flat platform of twigs and rootlets placed 

 at low elevations on horizontal boughs of trees, in 

 thorn bushes or thickets. In May or June four pale 

 greenish blue eggs are laid. (1.20 x .90.) 



Range. United States east of the Rockies, breeding 

 from Florida to Manitoba and New Brunswick. 

 Arrives from Central America in May, leaves in Sep- 

 tember. 



