*2 
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 
as lie traverses the borders of deep, retired, high timbered 
hollows, an uncouth guttural sound, or note, resembling the 
syllables kowe , kowe , kowe kowe kowe , beginning slowly, but 
ending so rapidly, that the notes seem to run into each other ; 
and vice versa : he will hear this frequently, without being 
able to discover the bird or animal from which it proceeds, as 
it is both shy and solitary, seeking always the thickest foliage 
for concealment. This is the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, the 
subject of the present account. From the imitative sound of 
its note, it is known in many parts by the name of the Cow- 
bird ; it is also called in Virginia the Rain Crow , being 
observed to be most clamorous immediately before rain. 
This species arrives in Pennsylvania, from the south, about 
the twenty-second of April, and spreads over the country, as 
far at least as Lake Ontario ; is numerous in the Chickasaw 
and Chactaw nations ; and also breeds in the upper parts of 
Georgia : preferring, in all these places, the borders of solitary 
when removing again to a warmer latitude, they appear to be gregarious, flying- 
high in the air, and in loose flocks. 
They appear to delight more in deep woody solitudes than the true 
Cuckoos, or those which approach nearest to the form of the European species. 
They, again, though often found near woods, and in richly clothed countries, 
are fond of open and extensive heaths or commons, studded or fringed with brush 
and forest : here they may expect an abundant supply of the foster parent 
to their young. The gliding and turning motion when flying in a thicket, 
however, is similar to that of the American Coccyzus. Like them, also, they 
are seldom on the ground ; but, when obliged to be near it, alight on some 
hillock or twig, where they will continue for a considerable time, swinging 
round their body in a rather ludicrous manner, with lowered wings and 
expanded tail, and uttering a rather low, monotonous sound, resembling the 
kowe of our American bird, — 
Turning round and round with cutty-coo. 
When suddenly surprised or disturbed from their roost at night, they utter a 
short, tremulous whistle, three or four times repeated; it is only on their 
first arrival, during the early part of incubation, when in search of a mate, 
that their well known and welcome note is heard ; by the first of July all is 
silent. The idea that the common Cuckoo destroys eggs and young birds, 
like the American Coccyzus , is also entertained ; I have never seen them do 
so, but the fact is affirmed by most country persons, and many gamekeepers 
destroy them on this account Ed. 
