YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 
433 
The male, however, frequently betrays his snug retreat by his 
monotonous and guttural kow kow kow kow, or koo koo koo 
koo, and kd kuk, kd kuk, koo koo koo kuk, koo ko koo, koo 
kd koo, uttered rather low and plaintively, like the call of the 
Dove. At other times the kow kow kow, and ’tk ’tk 'tk ’ik 
'tdk, or 'kh ’kh ’kh 'kh ’kah kow kow kow kow, beginning 
slow, rises, and becomes so quick as almost to resemble the 
grating of a watchman’s rattle, or else, commencing with this 
call, terminates in the distant cry of kow kow kow. From this 
note, supposed to be most clamorous at the approach of rain, 
it has received in Virginia and other States the name of Rain- 
Crow and Cow-Bird. At various seasons during the contin- 
uance of warm weather the vigil kow kow kow kow of the 
faithful male is uttered for hours at intervals throughout the 
night. The same notes, but delivered in a slower and rather 
tender strain, are given with great regularity likewise in the 
day as long as the period of incubation continues. He often 
steadfastly watches any approach to the nest, going to it occa- 
sionally to assure himself that it is unmolested ; and at times 
he may be observed darting even at the dormant bat, who 
accidentally seeks repose beneath the shady leaves of some 
contiguous tree, so that he is no less vigilant in seeking the 
security of his own progeny than in piratically robbing the 
nests of his neighbors. There are two or three other species 
in Jamaica and other parts of tropical America possessing a 
note very similar to that of our bird, which also frequently 
approaches, when delivered in the plaintive mood, koo koo and 
koo koo koo, the usual sound of the European Cuckoo. There 
is a Mexican species ( Cuculus ridihundiis) which so simulates 
laughter as to have excited the superstition of the natives, 
by whom it is hated as a messenger of evil, its accidental 
note of risibility being construed into an ominous delight in 
misfortune. 
The whole tribe of Cuckoos are in disgrace for the unnatural 
conduct of the European and some other foreign species, who, 
making no nests nor engaging in conjugal cares parasitically 
deposit their eggs one by one in the nests of other small birds, 
VOL. I. — 28 
