44 BIRDS OP ARKANSAS. 



insects. In thickly settled regions it may at times become a nuisance, 

 but in the sparsely settled West it is one of the most useful birds of 

 prey, feeding very largely upon rabbits and other destructive rodents. 



Snowy Owl. Nyctea nyctea. 



The snowy owl is a resident of the frozen North and visits the 

 United States only in winter. There are numerous records from 

 Missouri, but south of that State the species is a very rare straggler. 

 The only record for Arkansas is one given by Audubon, who states 

 that this owl occurs in winter on the Arkansas River.' 



Caxoliua Faxoquet. Conwopsis carolineruis. 



This handsome and interesting bird — the only representative of 

 its family in the eastern United States — was formerly common in 

 the South Atlantic and Gulf States and the Mississippi Valley gen- 

 erally as far north as Iowa. At the present time it is restricted 

 probably to Florida and even there is rare and local. Its extermina- 

 tion in the Mississippi Valley was practically accomplished about 20 

 or 25 years ago, although a few stragglers have been seen in Mis- 

 souri and Kansas as recently as 1905.^ Bendire records it as com- 

 paratively common in the Mississippi and White River Valleys in 1860, 

 and mentions seeing large flocks throughout that year in the vicinity of 

 Fort Smith.^ Mr. B. T. Gault, writing in 1888, says: "At one time 

 paroquets were very plentiful at Paroquet Bluflf, between Newport 

 and Batesville on the White River, but none have been seen there for 

 at least eight years." ^ 



Mr. O. P. Hay, in 1881, stated that paroquets had recently been 

 seen in southeastern Arkansas,* and in 1885 Mr. W. A. Monroe 

 reported them as summer residents at Newport. 



The food of the paroquets consisted of a variety of wild seeds, nuts, 

 fruits, and berries. They were fond also of cultivated fruit and were 

 accused of damaging corn and other grain when in the milk. This 

 habit, coupled with their confiding nature and their habit of flocking 

 about wounded comrades, furnished the cause and the opportunity 

 for their extermination by man. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Coccyzus ammeanus. 



The yellowbill is the common species of cuckoo or "rain crow" in 

 Arkansas, where it is generally distributed as a summer resident. 

 The average date of its arrival at Helena is April 25 (earliest, April 19) 

 and the last one at Dehght in autunm was noted September 25. It 

 has been observed also at FayetteviUe, Clinton, Newport, Mammoth 

 Spring, and other places. Cuckoos inhabit a variety of situations in 

 both mountains and lowlands, choosing usually for their nesting site 



1 Orn. Biog., n, p. 136, 1834. ' Lite History N. Am. Birds [H], p. 1, 1895. 



> Widmann, O., Birds of Missouri, p. 116, 1907. * Bull. Nutt. Om. Club, VU, p. 93, 1882. 



