186 BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



This is a bird much better known by sound than sight. Nearly every one has 

 heard the keow-keow-keow of the Rain-crow, but few people recognize the long, 

 slim bird that makes the noise, some even attributing the note to a tree-frog. Curi- 

 ously enough, while the main food of the Cuckoo is insects, it also eats tree-frogs. 

 C. S. Brimley has twice taken individuals that had their head feathers caked with 

 the slimy secretions of the frog. This is also one of the very few birds that eats 

 hairy caterpillars, which most other birds avoid. Pearson once watched a Cuckoo 

 eat nineteen of these in a period of five minutes. 



FIG. 143. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 



The nest is a rude platform of twigs, dead leaves, andjsometimes moss, placed 

 in a small tree or bush at a height of from five to fifteen feet from the ground. 

 The eggs are two to four in number, and are laid at intervals of from two to five 

 days, so that when the first egg hatches, the nest is often found to contain also an 

 incubated egg, and one that has been but freshly laid. The eggs are glaucous green 

 in color, and average in size 1.27 x .89. The breeding season is from May to 

 August, inclusive. 



170. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (Wils.). BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 



Description: Ads. Upperparts grayish brown with a slight green gloss; wings and tail the 

 same, the latter narrowly tipped with white; underparts dull white; bill black. L., 11.83; W., 

 5.50; T., 6.26; B. from N., .74. 



Remarks. This species is to be distinguished from the Yellow-billed Cuckoo chiefly by the 

 absence of rufous in the wings, black in the tail, and yellow in the lower mandible. (Chap., 

 Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. Breeds in the United States from North Carolina northward; winters in South 

 America. 



Range in North Carolina. Whole State in summer, probably breeding wherever found; much 

 scarcer than the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



The Black-billed Cuckoo, often confused in the popular mind with the preceding 

 species, and likewise called "Rain-crow," does not seem to be as common a bird in 

 the State as the Yellow-billed. In the mountains Cairns recorded it as some years 

 common and others almost wholly absent. At Raleigh it occurs as a rare summer 

 resident. A male was taken there on July 8, 1892, and a female with an egg ready 

 for laying was secured by C. S. Brimley on July 15, 1886. It is quite rare, and 

 has been detected breeding there but once. At Lake Ellis it was common in late 

 May, 1908, but whether the birds were migrants or summer visitors was not deter- 



