THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 21 



From an economic point of view there are few birds which do more good 

 than the Yellow-billed Cuckoos, as they live almost entirely on caterpillars, and 

 even the hairy and sharp-spined ones are eaten by them in large numbers. 

 Among the most important ones so destroyed are the cankerworm, the tent 

 caterpillar {Clisiocampa amerlcana), and that of Vanessa antiopa, as well as of 

 numerous other butterflies, grasshoppers, beetles, cicadas, small snails, etc., and 

 different kinds of fruit, as berries, mulberries, grapes, and others. Mr. J. L. 

 Davison, of Lockport, New York, has also observed it catching winged ants, 

 like a Flycatcher. I am aware that this species has been accused of destroying 

 the eggs and even of eating the young of smaller birds, but I am strongly inclined 

 to believe that this accusation is unjust, and in my opinion requires more sub- 

 stantial confirmation. I have never yet had any reason to suspect their robbing 

 smaller birds' nests, and the very fact that they live in apparent harmony with 

 such neighbors, who do not protest against their presence, as they are in the habit 

 of doing should a Blue Jay, Grrackle, or Crow come too close to their nests, 

 seems to confirm this view. I am upheld in this opinion by a number of careful 

 observers whom I have questioned on this important subject. Only two of my 

 correspondents seem to be inclined to believe this charge to be well founded. 

 Mr. William Brewster, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, writing me on this subject, 

 says: "While I have never seen either of our Cuckoos destroy the eggs of other 

 birds, nevertheless I think they do it occasionally. One of my reasons for this 

 belief is that many of our smaller birds. Warblers, Sparrows, etc., show great 

 anxiety whenever the Cuckoos approach their nests, and they pursue and peck 

 at them when they take wing, behaving toward them, in fact, exactly as they do 

 toward the Crows, Jays, and Grrackles, which we know eat eggs whenever they 

 can get a chance. My other reason is that one of my friends once shot a Cuckoo 

 (C. americanus, I think it was) whose bill was smeared all over with the fresh 

 yolk of an egg." Mr. H. P. Attwater, of San Antonio, Texas, although he has 

 not observed it personally either, informs me that in his neighborhood this bird 

 is locally known to the boy collectors as the Egg-sucker, and that some claim 

 to have observed it in the act of stealing eggs. 



Should an occasional pair of these birds, however, be guilty of such 

 reprehensible conduct, which I am not yet prepared to admit, it by no means 

 follows that it is a common practice. All of our Cuckoos deserve the utmost 

 protection; it is simply astonishing how quickly a pair of these birds will 

 exterminate the thousands of caterpillars infesting orchard and other trees in 

 certain seasons; it makes no difference how hairy and spiny these may be, none 

 are rejected by them, although no other birds will touch them, and the walls 

 of their stomachs are sometimes completely pierced by the sharp, stiletto-like 

 hairs, without injury, and apparently not incommoding these birds in the least. 

 Their benefit to the horticulturist is immense, and he has certainly no better 

 friends among our birds. 



Although the Yellow-billed Cuckoo generally arrives in our Northern States 

 about the middle of May, and occasionally a week or so earlier, it usually nests 



