254 
CUCULIFORMES 
an early-arriving species and comes in spring with a quietness that hides 
its presence for some time after arrival. Its notes, too, are entirely different 
from those with which European writers have made us familiar. The 
calls of our birds are less musical but have a charm of their own and a 
wildness and unusual quality in keeping with their natures. The two 
Canadian species are very much alike in their calls; a loud, startling “ Kaow - 
kaow-kaow ” is the most characteristic and one that, on the still summer air. 
can be heard for a quarter of a mile or more. Again they have a “Kuek- 
kuck-kwk” note, like a big clock beating seconds, that has not the range of 
the above but has considerable carrying power. None of these, notes has 
any resemblance to those of the European Cuckoo which are so familiarly 
rendered by the common cuckoo clock. In regard to their parental duties, 
our birds show considerable more realization of responsibility than the 
European. They are slightly parasitic in their habits, that is, they occa- 
sionally drop their eggs in the nests of other birds and shelve upon them the 
cares of raising their young, but the practice is not common and is perhaps 
only accidental. It may suggest the origin of the parasitic habit in other 
species. The old English word “cuckold” refers to and is based upon this 
habit of the European bird. 
Economic Status. Cuckoos are almost entirely insectivorous, but 
occasionally take small amounts of wild fruit. The great value lies in 
the fact that they show special fondness for certain insects that other 
species rarely touch. Hairy caterpillars which, on account of their bristly 
coatings, are safe from more fastidious birds, are regularly eaten by cuckoos. 
The interior of a cuckoo’s stomach will be found lined with a coating of 
spiny caterpillar bristles set in the walls and projecting from them like fur. 
Only one family Cuculidae is represented in Canada. 
387. Yellow- billed Cuckoo, le coucou A bec jaune. Coccyzus americanus . 
L, 12-20. Plate XXXI A. Olive-fawn above; all white below; long tail, with outer 
feathers black tipped with white. Curved bill, the lower mandible largely yellow. 
Distinctions. To be mistaken only for the Black-billed Cuckoo, but of very limited 
and local occurrence in Canada. It is distinguished, however, by the yellow lower mandible; 
a cinnamon suffusion on the wings, conspicuous 
in flight; tail feathers, except centre ones, mostly 
black, and with large, white tips (Figure 376). 
Field Marks. The long, flexible outline in 
flight, and general colour, make this species 
recognizable as a cuckoo. The yellow bill, 
cinnamon wing patches, anti tail largely black 
with conspicuous white tips, are best specific 
field marks. In Canada, only likely to be seen 
in southern Ontario and southwestern British 
Columbia. 
Nesting. A loose structure of sticks, not 
far from the ground, in thickets. 
Distribution. Temperate North America, 
north to just across our border. Common in 
southern Ontario, absent from the Prairie 
Provinces, scarce in southern British Columbia, 
west of the Coast Range. 
SUBSPECIES. Two subspecies are recognized. The Eastern Yellow-billed Cuckoo 
(le Coucou A bec jaune de FEst) coccyzus americanus americanus occurs west to Minnesota, 
and may some day straggle north into southeastern Manitoba. The California Cuckoo 
(le Coucou A bec jaune de l’Ouest) coccyzus americanus occidentalis is the western form from 
Lower California, northward. In the south it extends east to Colorado, but in the north 
it is confined to the coast districts, and only enters Canada in southern Vancouver Island, 
and the adjoining mainland west of the Coast Range. 
~fci 1 . 
Figure 376 
Specific details of Yellow-billed Cuckoo; 
head and foot, scale, tail, scale, §. 
