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Yellow- billed Cuckoo 
are pests, and any of them is likely to become so. The common tent- 
caterpillar formerly fed on the wild cherry, but has now turned its atten- 
tion principally to apple-trees, sometimes completely defoliating them.” 
In some parts of the United States, especially in the South, the sur- 
face of the country is fairly level and the soil is of sand. Large tracts 
of pine-woodland, sometimes with no other kinds of trees growing near, 
occupy much of the sparsely settled land. In these pine-forests the 
Cuckoos are seldom seen ; and in such regions, if we wish to find them, 
we must search by the lakes and along the streams where other kinds 
of trees are growing, or else among the shade-trees of a town. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo belongs to the Order Coccyges, the Suborder 
Cuculi, the Family Cuculidce, the Subfamily Coccysince and the Genus Coccysus. 
Its scientific name is Coccysus americanus americanus. The bird occurs in summer 
throughout the eastern and central United States from southern Canada to northern 
Florida and Louisiana. It passes the winter in South America. There is a sub- 
species, the California Cuckoo (C. a. occidentalis) , which is a little larger than 
the eastern form, but otherwise very similar ; it is found in summer in the Rocky 
Mountains, and on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia southward to the 
Mexican plateau. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 2 cents each, by the National Association ol 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
