BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 131 



and is written k-kuk, k-J?uk, k-kuk. As it is supposed 

 to be a sign of rain, he is commonly called " Rain- 

 crow." 



A Cuckoo was heard in Iowa Circle recently, but 

 that was unusual, for he is a shy bird and seldom ven- 

 tures into the city, probably only when the trees are 

 full of caterpillars. His favorite food is tent cater- 

 pillars, the sort that make their ugly nests in our trees 

 and ruin the foliage, and he is therefore extremely use- 

 ful. Mr. Chapman tells of shooting a Cuckoo at six 

 o'clock in the morning which had forty-three of these 

 caterpillars in his stomach. 



" Family cares rest lightly on the Cuckoo. The nest 

 of both species is a ram-shackle affair a mere bundle 

 of twigs and sticks without a rim to keep the eggs 

 from rolling from the bush, where they rest, to the 

 ground. The over- worked mother-bird often lays an 

 egg while brooding over its nearly hatched com- 

 panion, and the two or three half-grown fledglings 

 already in the nest may roll the large greenish eggs 

 out upon the ground, while both parents are off hunt- 

 ing for food to quiet their noisy clamorings." (Neltje 

 Blanchan.) In this part of the country the Cuckoo 

 more often nests in trees than in bushes. 



Black-billed Cuckoo: Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. 



The Black-billed Cuckoo is much like the Yellow- 

 billed, but besides the different bill his wings have no 

 brown on them, and his tail-feathers are but slightly 

 tipped with white. The voice of the Black-billed is 

 softer than that of the common Cuckoo and his notes 

 are more connected. The nest and eggs are much the 

 same. Resident (rare) from May 2 to October 15. 



