THE OOLOGIST. 



139 



The Yellow-billed Cuakoo. 



The Yellow-billed Cuckoo or "Rain- 

 <'ro\v, " as it is more coiumonly called, 

 liree Is more extensively ia this vicinity 

 than its near I'elative, the Black-billed. 

 The two l)irds resemble each other ver^' 

 much, their only difference being 

 shown by their names. I think the 

 Black-billed is also somewliat smaller 

 than the Yellow-billed. 



Tlie Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a very 

 m(Hlest bird and is seldom seen outside 

 the thicket wiiere it builds its nest, laj's 

 its fggs and hatches, and rears its 

 young. It does not contine itself to the 

 forest, however, iov I ha\e frequently 

 observed it in ti'ees surrounding a 

 human habitation, and know of one 

 instance wliere it imilt and laid in a 

 tree ai)out ten or tweh'c yards from a 

 h(mse. 



The plumage of the head, hauk and 

 upper part of the tail, is of a light 

 brown color; the throat, Ijreast and 

 lower part of the tail being white. 



A pecular feature of this bird, pos- 

 sessed also by some of the Iiawlcs,is that 

 a r(.)w of featliers extends along each 

 leg to the foot. 



The nest is rarely ever i)uilt very 

 high from the ground, l_)ut is nsuallj' 

 placed in a low tree or busli, a partially 

 dead ti'ee, or one wliose limbs are 

 co\-ered witli uK^ss, l)eing cliosen in 

 ])reference to others. Tlie nest is a 

 frail structure, being highly constructed 

 of twigs, dead leaves and moss. 



This bird is very careless in regard to 

 the uumlx'r of eggs it lays. I have 

 found nests containing two eggs, whiclx 

 were incubated, a sign that no more 

 would be laid,- and I have found nests 

 containing six t'ggs, none (*f tlie eggs 

 being exactly the same size. 



The eggs are skj'-blue in color, Ijeing 

 frequentlj' defaced by whitish stains, 

 very diilicult to remove. 



The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a ver3' 

 fearless l)ird, allowing a person to ap- 



proach quite near before it forsakes its 

 nest. It never utters a sound when 

 driven from its eggs or young, but 

 glides quietly off into the forest. And 

 here is where it differs from other 

 birds. Comparatively speaking, but 

 few birds will aljandon their nest to the 

 despoiler ef its contents without a noisy 

 resistance, which, hov/ever, is generally 

 fruitless. 



The Cuckoo nearly ahvajs sits on its 

 nest till the last moment. I have 

 known instances wliere it was necess- 

 ary to shake the tree before she would 

 leave it. She frequently hovers in the 

 tree where her nest is situated for a 

 while, but ev(3ntual!3- makes oft' into the 

 woods, where, at intervals, her deep, 

 guttriral nores, appearing to ccuoe 

 from deep down in the tliroat, can b<' 

 heanl. The notes of the Cuckoo differ 

 greatly from the shrill calls of its feaih 

 ered kindred, and is considerefl by 

 manj' to be a sure sign of rain. This 

 bird conseqiiently being generally cal- 

 led Rain Crow instead of Cuckoo. 

 E. Carl Litsex, 

 Marion Co., Ky. 



Nesoirjg of the Green Heror- 



The Green Heroii .ardca virc.-<cen^) 

 whicli proba!)]y has as great a variety 

 of names as any bird in tlie Unite<i 

 States, (among v/hicli it wiil be re- 

 cognized by such as Siiite-poke, Indian 

 Hen, Marsh Hen,) and, in fact, hasdng 

 a difl'erent name in every country vil- 

 lage where there is a creek; is supposed 

 by many persons to Iniild its nest in 

 dense swamps or over water; Imt from 

 what experience I've had, I come to the 

 conclusion that it prefers hilly land 

 well away from the water. 



It breeds (inite sparingly- in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, but I had the good 

 luck to take three sets tliis season here. 

 The tirst nest, taken on May 7th, was 

 composed of coarse oak twigs, very 

 frailly put together, plaeed in the intei'- 



