BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 259 



important element in every month. Hemiptera constitute nearly thirty per cent 

 of the food, and are composed mostly of plant-lice and scales, which are eaten at 

 all times when they can be found, and the scales can be obtained in every month, 

 as they pass the winter on the bark in a dormant state, or in the shape of eggs. 

 Beetles are eaten to the extent of eighteen per cent of the food, and are nearly 

 all injurious species. All of the above insects are of the smaller species, such as 

 larger birds are apt to pass by, yet some of the worst enemies of forest 

 trees are found in these minute creatures. As a sample of what one of these 

 little birds can do in the way of devouring insects, the following account of a 

 stomach contents of Regulus calendula may serve. The principal item consisted 

 of the remains of something over 100 small beetles, Notoxus alamedae, with several 

 others of the genus Anthicus, a few Chrysomelids (leaf-eating beetles), some 

 Scolytids (engraver beetles), one Scymnus and one beetle too badly mangled for 

 recognition. All of these are harmful insects except the last two, and the unknown 

 one might have been. 



The Cuckoos {Coccyzus crythrophthalmus and C. am eric anus). 



Cuckoos are quiet birds and rather retiring in their habits. Their notes, though 

 frequently heard in warm weather, are not loud or obtrusive. However, they do 

 not avoid the haunts of men, but have a way of concealing themselves amidst the 

 foliage, and shunning naked branches or exposed places, so that they are not often 

 seen. Their favorite resorts are the open groves or woods, the edges of forests, 

 orchards, and clumps of trees and shrubs. They often visit the shadetrees about 

 farmhouses, and are frequently heard in the trees along village streets, or even in 

 city parks. 



While there are three species and two subspecies of these birds in the United 

 States, only two are abundant enough to become of economic importance. These, 

 with one subspecies, practically occupy the whole country except the plains and 

 deserts, but in winter are found only in the extreme southern portion of their 

 range. The yellow-billed cuckoo {Coccyzus americanus) breeds from the Gulf of 

 Mexico to southern Canada; the black-billed ranges still farther northward. The 

 migration does not begin until spring is well advanced, and on the return movement 

 most of the species leave the Northern States in August, though a few linger a 

 little longer. Their northern season is therefore comparatively short, a peculiarity 

 which is partly explained by the character of their food. From an economic point 

 of view the cuckoos take a high rank amcng useful birds. Their habit of living 

 more or less concealed among the leaves of trees or shrubs suggests, what observation 



