YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO 395 



perch over the water, whence it can see its prey below the surface, 

 a steel trap is placed on the top of an upright pole planted in the 

 pond and the marauder is captured therein. 



Its white eggs are placed at the end of a long burrow in some 

 bank near the water. The accompanying virile picture (Fig. 

 389) by Fuertes, gives an excellent idea of the appearance of this 

 vivacious, noisy, and at times, injurious bird. It should be in- 

 cluded under the head of "Birds of doubtful utility." 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Plate 3, Fig. 7). The cuckoo is a shy 

 bird. Its back and long tail are a fashionable brown. The under 

 parts are white. The lower half of the bill is yellow, except at 



ta&'lft-iaSiAlil 



FIG. 388. Night hawk. (From Brehm.) 



the tip. It constructs a loose nest of twigs and lays therein three, 

 four, or five pale green eggs, unmarked. This bird is generally 

 silent, but at times gives utterance to a note repeated in such a 

 way that it sounds like some one calling the cows. Because this 

 is heard sometimes in lowering weather preceding rain, the bird 

 is called by many "rain crow." 



It is without doubt one of our most useful birds and one of the 

 few which will eat hairy caterpillars, such as tent caterpillars, 

 and fall web worms. Henshaw (U. S. Farmers' Bui. 513) reports 

 that one stomach which was examined contained two hundred 

 and fifty tent caterpillars; another, two hundred and seventeen 

 fall web worms. 



