CUCKOOS. 7 



sparrow in the stomach, and as the cuckoo is parasitic on this species it looks as 

 though it sometimes devoured the eggs of the foster-parent to make room for 

 its own. 



American The American cuckoos, although of sober grey and brown shades 



Cuckoos, of colouring, and resembling the true cuckoos in this respect, may 

 always be distinguished by their oval and not rounded nostrils. They ai-e grey or 

 brown in colour, generally with an olive gloss, although two species have rufous 

 backs. Except as regards their nesting-habits they are nearly allied to the cuckoos 

 of the Old World. One of the best known species is the yellow-billed cuckoo 

 {Coccyzus americanus), which is olive-brown in colour, with white tips to the tail- 

 feathers ; the under-parts being white, and the inner side of the quills rufous. 

 This cuckoo, together with its near ally, the black-billed cuckoo (C. erythroph- 

 thalmus) is migratory to the United States in summer, the latter extending its 

 breeding-ranges as far to the north as Manitoba and Labrador. Dr. Coues says 

 that the ways of these cuckoos are shy and retiring. They are more often heard 

 than seen, " passing from one tree to another stealthily, with a rapid, gliding, 

 noiseless flight, and they often rest motionless as statues for a long time, especially 

 when crying out, or when they have detected a suspicious object. The peculiar 

 notes of this bird, sounding like the syllables, koo-Jcoo-koo, indefinitely repeated, are 

 probably uttered more frequently during the atmospheric changes preceding falling 

 weather, and have given rise to the name Rain-crow, by which both our species of 

 Coccyzus are known to the vulgar." He also says that they are great plunderers of 

 the eggs of small birds, and are even said to devour the helpless nestlings. The nest 

 is said to be like that of a crow, but poorly constructed. In connection with the 

 supposition that our English cuckoo lays its eggs at intervals, it is interesting to 

 know that the yellow-billed cuckoo undoubtedly does so, since in its nest there have 

 been found fresh eggs and young in all stages, from the bird just hatched to the 

 one able to fly, showing that there must be a considerable interval between the 

 laying of each egg. Audubon gives an instance in which as many as eleven young 

 birds had been hatched in a season. The eggs are pale greenish in colour. 



Found only in the Indian and Australian regions, two species 

 being peculiar to the former and four to the latter, the koels show a 

 remarkable sexual difference in colour, the males being black, and the females 

 nifous with black bands. In most birds, when the parents differ in plumage, the 

 young at first resemble the hens, but in the instance of the koels the young of 

 both sexes are black like the cocks. The koels may also be distinguished from 

 the preceding genus by having a much rounder and stouter bill than in the preced- 

 ing genera. The tail is long and wedge-shaped. Regarding the coloration of the 

 young, Mr. Whitehead, writing of the Philippine koel, or phow {Eudynamis 

 mindanensis), asks " why should the young birds not follow the general rule, and 

 take the plumage of the female, or have a plumage distinct from that of both 

 parents ? The answer to this riddle appears to be that the phow lays its eggs 

 in the nest of the yellow-wattled myna. The young cuckoo, being black, does 

 not differ from the young myna, and so the deception is carried on until the young 

 bird can take care of itself. If the young followed the general rule, and resembled 

 their mother in being of a brown colour, the mynas might not feed them. The 



