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Economic Status. This is a northern bird which occurs within the 
bounds of cultivation only in winter and rarely. Few data are available 
upon its food, but without doubt it is a mouser as it is too small to prey upon 
larger animals. 
Order—Coccyges. Cuckoos and Kingfishers. 
Systematic zoologists are not agreed on the classification of these 
birds. The present American Ornithologists’ Union check-list (1910 
edition) recognizes these as composing a full order and divides the Canadian 
representatives into two suborders: Cuculi, including the American Cuckoos 
and extralimital families, and Alcyones, the Kingfishers. Distinctive 
characters are most easily described under the subfamily and specific 
headings. 
SUBORDER—CUCULI. CUCKOOS, ETC. 
This suborder is represented in North America by only one family, 
Cuculide, comprising the Anis and two groups of Cuckoos. 
FAMILY—CUCULIDH. AMERICAN CUCKOOS. 
A family represented in North America by three subfamilies, only 
one of which occurs in Canada—Coccyzine, the American Tree Cuckoos. 
Subfamily—Coccyzine. American Tree Cuckoos. 
General Description. Birds with weak feet and yoke toes, two toes directed forward 
and two backwards (Figure 37, p. 24). The bills are rather long, gently curved, and sharp 
pointed. The plumage is soft and thin, lacking in cohesion, and has the soft silky feeling 
associated with many tropical species. The tail is long, soft, and graduated. 
Distinctions. May be distinguished from the Woodpeckers, which also have yoke 
toes, directed two and two, by the difference in the bills and tails. In the Woodpecker 
the bills are straight, stout, the tip chisel-pointed, and the tail is rather short, very stiff, 
and bristle-like at the tip. 
The Cuckoos are largely tropical in distribution. The two Canadian 
euckoos are outliers from the main body of species in warmer latitudes. 
They are possessed of a sensuous tropical grace and air that are out of keeping 
with northern climes. This is exhibited in their lithe, sinuous carriage, 
full round deep throat, long graceful tail, and thin but soft and silky plumage. 
They haunt hot and humid jungles of shrubbery, and flit across the open 
spaces with a silent undulating flight that seems in harmony with their 
exotic nature. English literature is rich in reference to the Cuckoo, but 
little that is said is applicable to the Canadian Cuckoo. The latter is not 
an early arriving species and comes in spring with a quietness and a silence 
that hides its presence for some time after arrival. Its notes, too, are 
entirely different from those with which European writers have made us 
familiar. The calls of cur birds are less musical but have a charm of their 
own and a wildness and unusual quality in keeping with their natures. 
The two Canadian species are very much alike in their calls; a loud 
startling ‘“‘Kaow-kaow-kaow”’ is one of the most characteristic and one 
that, on the still summer air, can be heard for a quarter of a mile or more. 
Again they have a “‘ Kuck-kuck-kuck”’ note like a big clock beating seconds, 
that has not the range of the above but has considerable carrying power. 
