PARROTS, KINGFISHERS, AND FLYCATCHERS 



805 



Photograph from F. W. Hoepfner 

 EVIDENCE THAT A ROAD-EUNNER MAY EAT A RATTLER I 



Early one spring a farmer, J. C. Carraway, of Robstown, Texas, was walking in the mesquite 

 brush with some of his dogs when he came upon this bird devouring a snake. His dogs killed the 

 road-runner, which, being encumbered, was unable to run or fly away. The reptile was about fifteen 

 inches long (page 812). 



eyes to identify songsters known pre- 

 viously only from books and voiceless 

 museum specimens. 



Through all these enticing sounds there 

 came one that I recognized without the 

 slightest difficulty, a steady koo-koo, koo- 

 koo that announced the European cuckoo. 



Long years of familiarity with the strik- 

 ing of cuckoo clocks in my native land left 

 not the slightest doubt of the identity of 

 this note, and I laughed at the exactness 

 of the imitation as I searched for the singer. 



Suddenly I saw a bird with long, broad 

 tail flying with rapidly beating wings across 

 a little valley, and the search was ended. 



PARROTS AND CUCKOOS ARE RELATIVES 



Ornithologists consider the cuckoos close 

 relatives of the parrots in spite of their en- 

 tirely different appearance. More than 

 two hundred forms of cuckoos (family 

 Cuculidae) are known, all being birds of 

 slender form and small or medium size, 

 often with long tails. Though widely dis- 

 tributed throughout the world, they are 

 commonest in tropical areas. 



While most cuckoos live among the 

 branches of trees, some, such as the ani, feed 

 regularly on the ground, forming a transi- 

 tion to those species like the road-runner 

 that are entirely terrestrial and seldom fly 

 (Color Plate II and pages 809-812). 



The family activities of many of this 

 group are strange and interesting, as among 

 them parasitism in breeding is more wide- 

 spread than in any other group of birds. 

 The best-known example is the European 

 cuckoo, a species that always places its egg 

 in the nest of some small bird. About fif- 

 teen inches in length, this cuckoo has the 

 size and color of a small hawk. 



In the mating season each female cuckoo 

 has a definite range in which it seeks out 

 the nests of small bird neighbors. 



Each cuckoo is believed to parasitize 

 nests of one kind of bird to the exclusion 

 of others, one selecting the meadow pipit, 

 another the hedge sparrow, another one of 

 the wagtails, and so on. 



Often the cuckoo removes one egg of the 

 rightful owner to make room for her own, 

 and in all events the young cuckoo when 



