YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 



this is horrible ; it has the sound of murder in it ; no cat 

 on a back-yard fence can produce a yell as hideous ! Mr. 

 Chapman says this call " is a loud piercing scream, one 

 of the most blood-curdling sounds I have ever heard in 

 the woods." From a creature whose habit it is to be 

 out all night hunting, one must expect something grew- 

 some. Upon hearing the screech for the first time one's 

 mind instinctively reverts to those lines in Scott's Lady 

 of the Lake 



" At once there rose so wild a yell 

 Within that dark and narrow dell, 

 As all the fiends, from heaven that fell, 

 Had pealed the banner-cry of hell ! " 



Thus far, nobody has ventured to call this note the 

 Great Horned Owl's love song ! 



ORDER COCCYGES. CUCKOOS, ETC, 

 Family Cuculidce. 



There are over one hundred and seventy known species 

 of Cuckoo in the New World, and these are mostly 

 tropical birds. Our two common Cuckoos, the Yellow- 

 billed and the Black-billed, differ from the Old World 

 Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) in their laudable habit of 

 hatching their own eggs, and taking care of their young. 

 These are the only species in the United States. 



Yellow-billed The Yellow-billed Cuckoo scarcely de- 

 serves a position with the songsters, for 

 mmericanus n * s no * e * s a l mos * entirely without pitch. 

 L. i a. 10 inches ffis near relative the Black-billed Cuckoo 

 May loth is by far the better singer ; nevertheless, 

 the Yellow-bill's attempts at rhythm are not without 

 merit, for he can give us a ritardanto as perfect as that 

 of the Chat. The Cuckoos are slim, long-billed, dove- 

 like birds whose general tone of color is brownish lilac, 

 or dove-colored light brown with a slight touch of iri- 

 descent green above, and a grayish white beneath. The 

 sexes in both specie* of Cuckoo are alike in color. The 



