CHAPTER XIX 
THE ORDER OF CUCKOOS AND KINGFISHERS 
COCCYGES 
This Order (pronounced Coc'-si-jez) represents 
an effort to find a place for three familiar Fami- 
lies of birds whose members have something in 
common, yet in their most noticeable features 
are widely different. Both in their structure, 
habits and mode of life, the kingfisher and 
cuckoo are widely different from each other; 
and if there is one really good reason why these 
birds should be placed in the same Order, the 
writer would be pleased to have it pointed out. 
Their feet are totally different, and so are their 
beaks, their tails and their plumage. Any future 
revision of the classification of birds should 
strike this Order, early and hard. 
THE CUCKOO FAMILY. 
Cuculidae. 
The Yellow-Billed Cuckoo , 1 or Rain- 
“Crow,” will fitly represent the Cuckoo Family. 
It looks like an insect-eating perching-bird, and 
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 
in reality it is one! You can easily recognize it 
by its extreme length and slenderness, the fan- 
like shape of its tail when spread, its upper sur- 
face of glossy drab — or gray-brown — and its white 
1 Coc-cy'zus americanus. Length, about 12 inches. 
under surface from throat to tail. To carry out 
this color-scheme to its logical sequence, the 
upper mandible is dusky brown, and the lower 
one is yellow. 
This bird derives one of its common names— 
Rain-“ Crow ”■ — from the fact that its peculiar 
cry is heard oftenest on still and cloudy summer 
days, — two conditions which to the weather- 
wise farmer always portend rain. Its cry is a 
weird, gurgling note which sounds like “Cowk- 
cowk-cowk-cowk ! ” and usually it comes from 
the heart of a thick bush or tree which effectually 
screens the bird. It seems to be fully aware of 
the dangers which beset all birds which attempt 
to live in the open with civilized man, for it lives 
amid the forest shadows. 
This bird, and also its twin species, the Black- 
Billed Cuckoo, lives almost wholly upon in- 
sects. Of one hundred and fifty-five Cuckoo stom- 
achs examined by the Department of Agriculture, 
only one contained any vegetable food — two 
small berries. Nearly half the Cuckoo’s food 
proved to be caterpillars, 2,771 of which were 
found in 129 stomachs. It was not uncommon 
for one bird to contain more than 100 of them. 
“During May and June, when tent-caterpillars 
are defoliating the fruit-trees, these insects con- 
stitute half of the Cuckoo’s food.” 
The stomachs examined contained remains 
of sixty-five species of insects, in the following 
percentages: beetles, 6; bugs, 64; grasshoppers, 
30; caterpillars, 484; other insects, such as web- 
worms, tussock-moths, army-worms, and moth 
larvae, 9. 
From the results of this investigation it is clear 
that our two species of Cuckoo are to be numbered 
with the farmers’ best friends among birds. As 
an estimate, I should say that each of these birds 
that enters a section devoted to farming and 
fruit-growing is worth to that section about $10 
per season. The charge that Cuckoos devour 
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