CUCKOOS AND SHRIKES IN THEIR RELATION TO 
AGRICULTURE. 
THE FOOD OF CUCKOOS. 
By F. E. L. Beal, B. S. 
GENERAL NOTES. 
Cuckoos are quiet and rather shy birds. While they do not avoid 
the haunts of man, they nevertheless have a way of concealing them- 
Fig. 1. — Yellow-billed cuckoo. 
selves in foliage, seldom alighting on naked branches or in exposed 
places, and hence are not often seen. Their favorite resorts are open 
groves or woods, the edges of forests, orchards, and clumps of trees or 
shrubs. They often visit shade trees about houses, and are frequently 
heard in the trees along village streets or even in city parks. In many 
parts of the country they are known as 'Rain Crows* or ' Kow-kows,' 
the syllables ~kow-lx(nc being an imitation of their notes. 
The cuckoo's nest is usually built in bushes or small trees at no great 
height from the ground, and is a flimsy afl'air, composed of a few sticks, 
forming a mere platform for the eggs, which vary in number from two 
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