20 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 



It makes no particular selection as to situation or the nature of the tree, 

 but settles any where indiscriminately. The eggs are four or five, of a 

 rather elongated oval form, and bright green colour. They rear only one 

 brood in a season, unless the eggs are removed or destroyed. The young 

 are principally fed with insects during the first weeks. Towards autumn 

 they become very fat, and are fit for being eaten, although few persons; 

 excepting the Creoles of Louisiana, shoot them for the table. 



The branch, among the foliage of wliich you see the male and female 

 winging their way, is one of the Papaw, a tree of small size, seldom more 

 than from twenty to tliirty feet in height, with a diameter of from' 

 three to seven inches. It is found growing in all rich grounds, to which 

 it is peculiar, from the southern line of our States to central Pennsylva- 

 nia, seldom farther eastward, liere and there only along the alluvial 

 shores of the Ohio and Mississippi. In all other places of like nature 

 you may meet with groves of Papaw trees, covering an acre or more of 

 ground. The fruit, which is represented in the plate, consists of a pulpy 

 and insipid sulistance, within which are found several large, hard, and 

 glossy seeds. The rind is extremely thin. The wood is light, soft^ 

 brittle, and almost useless. The bark, which is smooth, may be torn off 

 from the foot of the tree to the very top, and is frequently used for mak- 

 ing ropes, after it has been steeped in water sufficiently to detach the 

 outer part, when the fibres are obtained, which, when twisted, are found 

 to be nearly as tough and durable as hemp. Tlie numerous islands of 

 the Oliio and all the other western rivers are generally well stocked with 

 this tree. : 



CoccYZtrs AMEttiCANUS, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds iif the Uniled States, p. 42. 

 CucuLUS AMEBICANUS, Ltnti. Syst. Nat. vol i. p. 170 — Lutli. Iiui. Oniith. vol. i. p.21!). 

 Cakolina Cuckoo, Lath. Synopsis, voL ii. p. 527. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cuculus carolikensis. Wils. Aineric. Ornilh. vol. iv. 

 p. 13. PI. 28. %. 1. 



Adult Male. Plate II. Fig. 1. 



Bill as long as the head, compressed, shghtly arched, acute, scarcely 

 more robust than in many Sylviae ; upper mandible carinated above, its 

 margins acute and entire ; lower mandible carinated beneath, acute. 

 Nostrils basal, lateral, linear-elliptical, half closed by a membrane. Feet 

 short ; tarsus scutellate before and behind ; toes two before, separated ; 



