LAND BIRDS. 339 
with protective stinging hairs, like the Jo caterpillar and the various species 
of Vanessa, are eaten freely. Large quantities of beetles and bugs also are 
consumed, and both species of cuckoo seem to be very fond of grasshoppers, 
eating especially such forms as frequent shrubbery and trees, among these 
the destructive tree crickets (Hcanthus). Ten specimens examined by 
Professor Aughey, in Nebraska, contained 416 locusts and grasshoppers, 
and 152 other insects. 
In Michigan the cuckoos seem to eat very little fruit, but farther south 
they have been known to feed freely on elder-berries and mulberries, and 
they doubtless eat other small fruits to some extent. They, however, 
never become actual enemies of the horticulturist in this way. 
The only serious charge ever brought against the cuckoo, so far as we 
know, is that of robbing the nests of other birds. This crime was ascribed 
Fig. 85. Nest, egg and young of Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 
From photograph by Thomas lL. Hankinson. 
to the bird years ago, and several of the older writers have adduced some 
proof in support of it. Audubon, Wilson and Nuttall all state that the 
cuckoo is known to suck the eggs of other birds, and one would infer from 
their statements that considerable damage was done in this way. Recent 
observers, however, have pretty generally failed to corroborate these 
statements, and several of our best naturalists, whose opportunities for 
observation have been ample, state positively that they see no reason to 
believe these charges. Personally, the only evidence of this habit which 
we have seen lies in the fact that many species of the smaller birds attack 
the cuckoo and drive it away from their nests, even following it some 
distance and treating it very much as they would Crows, Blue Jays and 
Bronzed Grackles, which are known’sometimes to rob nests. These actions, 
however, are susceptible of another explanation, for in flight and general 
appearance the cuckoo is not unlike some of the smaller hawks and very 
possibly other birds may mistake them for birds of prey. 
