256 JTESTS AND EOGS OF 



This bird is Icnown by several names, such as Rain Crow, Rain Dove and Chow- 

 chow, which are likewise applied to the Black-billed species. Wherever woods and 

 undergrov/th abound in Eastern United States the Yellow-billed Cuckoo may be 

 seen in the breeding season. Its peculiar, resounding notes resembling the syllables 

 kwk-kook-kook are probably uttered more frequently just before falling weather- 

 hence the name, Rain Crow. Being somewhat nocturnal in their habits, the notes 

 of both our Cuckoos are often heard at night. The nest will usually be found in a 

 low tree or bush, sometimes it is placed in a brier patcii close to the ground. Thick- 

 ets along the streams or upon islands are favorite nesting places. The usual distance 

 of the nest from the ground is between five and ten feet. It is a slight structure of 

 slender, dried sticks, sometimes twelve to fifteen inches long, but generally much 

 shorter, bark-strips and catkins making up the fabric. Although near relatives of 

 the notorious Cuckoo of Europe, which, like our Cowbird, lays its egss in the nest 

 of other birds, our Cuckoos generally respect the marriage tie, and are not alto- 

 gether deserving of the stigma of the family name of Cuckoos of the Old World, 

 although its eggs are sometimes laid in the nests of the Mourning Dove, Catbird, 

 Cedar Waxwing, Cardinal Grosbeak, Robin and others. The eggs are deposited at 

 intervals of two to five days, and frequently young are found in the nest with par- 

 tially incubated eggs. Two to four are usually laid. Dr. Howard Jones, in "Nests 

 and Eggs of the Birds of Ohio," says that when incubation does not begin until the 

 complement is completed, as is corhmonly the case, four eggs, rarely six, make up 

 the set. Mr. Norris has a set of six. The average size of twenty-eight specimens 

 is 1.27X.8S*. Fresh eggs may be found as early as the middle of May, in June, July , 

 and even August. Not infrequently are the eggs of the Yellow-billed and Black- 

 billed Cuckoos found in the same nest. The color of the eggs is glaucous-green, of 

 the same tint found in herons' eggs, which fades upon exposure to light, and when 

 incubated, this color becomes several shades lighter than that in the fresh specimens. 

 On June 24, 1894, a nest of this species was found byMr.R.C.Osburn in Licking county, 

 0., which was placed, in an apple tree twenty feet from the ground. It had a lining 

 a quarter of an inch deep, composed wholly of the seeds of the ash tree. The seeds 

 had been carried at least three hundred yards. 



[387o.] CALIFORNIA CUCKOO. Corcyziis amerlcaims occidentalis Ridgw. 

 Geog. Dist. — Western United States, north to Oregon, east to New Mexico and 

 Colorado, south over tablelands of Mexico; 



Ridgway describes this western form as -larger than C. americaiius, with 

 proportionately larger and stouter bill.* The nefeting and eggs, and the general 

 habits of this geographic race are indistinguishable from those ot the Yellow-billed 

 Cuckoo. ' ;' 



.^^.qSSS., black-billed CUCKOO, eoccyziis erythrovlithalmus (Wils.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Eastern North America, north to Labrador and Manitoba, westward to the 

 Rocky Mountains, south in winter to the West Indies and Tropical America. 



The same names are given to this bird as are common to the Yellow-billed 

 Cuiekoo, C. americaiius, and their general habits are similar. The nests of thfe Yel- 

 low a:nd Black-billed Cuckoos resemble each other closely, and it is not always pos- 

 sible to differentiate the two. Nests of the former are often found which could not 



* For Description see Manual of North American Birds, p. 273. 



