160 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



SUBFAMILY COCCYGIN./E. AMERICAN CUCKOOS. 



GENUS COCCYZUS VIEILLOT. 

 Coccyzus americanus (LiNN.). 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo ; Rain Crow ; Row-bird. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 89}. 



Length about 12 inches ; extent about 15^ ; tail about 6| ; upper mandible, except 

 edges, which are yellow like the lower, and tip of latter yellow. Above grayish- 

 olive with metallic reflections ; below white ; middle tail feathers longest and like 

 back, rest black with white tips, each spot being about one inch long ; iris brown ; 

 naked legs bluish. 



Habitat. Temperate North America, from New Brunswick, Canada, Minnesota, 

 Nevada and Oregon south to Costa Rica and the West Indies. Less common from 

 the eastern border of the plains westward. 



This species is easily known by the yellow under mandible, the broadly 

 white-tipped tail feathers and the bright cinnamon markings of the 

 wings. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a common summer resident, arrives 

 in Pennsylvania about the last week in April, and returns generally to 

 its southern winter resorts by the latter part of September. The com- 

 mon names of Rain Crow and Kow-bird given to both the Yellow and 

 Black-billed Cuckoos arise from their peculiar and loud gutteral notes 

 of Kow, Kow, which are, it is said, most clamorous at the approach of 

 rain. Both species are also known in some sections of this state by the 

 name of Indian Hen. The cuckoos are much more frequently heard 

 than seen, unless it is at times when they dart from one tree to another, 

 or into the thick foliage of bushes. The nest of this species is loosely 

 built of small sticks lined with grasses, and placed usually on the low 

 limb of a tree ; sometimes, however, it is found in thick bushes. The 

 eggs, generally two or four, are light greenish-blue in color and meas- 

 ure about 1.24 inches in length, and about .90 of an inch in width. 

 Writing of this species Audubon says : " It robs smaller birds of their 

 eggs, which it sucks on all occasions, and is cowardly and shy, without 

 being vigilant. On this latter account it often falls a prey to several 

 species of hawks, of which the Pigeon Hawk may be considered as its 

 most dangerous enemy. It prefers the southern states for its residence, 

 and when very mild winters occur in Louisiana, some individuals remain 

 there, not finding it necessary to go farther south. They feed on in- 

 sects, such as caterpillars and butterflies, as well as on berries of many 

 kinds, evincing a special prediliction for the mulberry. In autumn they 

 eat many grapes. They now and then descend to the ground to pick 

 up a wood-snail or a beetle." 



According to Wilson the diet of this species consists for the most part 

 of caterpillars, particularly such as infest apple trees. They also eat 

 various kinds of berries, but from the circumstances of destroying such 



