YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, OR RAIN-CROW. 551 
§ i. Tarsus about the length of the longest toe , knees feathered. 
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, or RAIN-CROW. 
( Coccyzus americanus , Bonap. Audubon, pi. 2. Orn. i. p. 18. 
Cuculus carolinensis, Wilson, iv. p. 13. pi. 28. fig. 1. C. ameri- 
canus , L. Phil. Museum, No. 1778.) 
Sp. Charact. — Dark greyish-brown with bronzy reflections ; be- 
neath white ; inner vanes of the primaries reddish cinnamon- 
color ; the lower mandible yellow. 
The American Cuckoo arrives in the Middle and cold- 
er States of the Union about the close of April or the 
first week of May, but is scarcely known to the north of 
Massachusetts. They probably winter in Mexico, and 
some pass no farther than the forests of Louisiana.* La- 
tham speaks of this species, also, as an inhabitant of the 
tropical island of Jamaica. It delights in the shady re- 
tirement of the forest, and is equally common in tall 
thickets and orchards, where, like a piratical prowler, 
it skulks and hides among the thickest boughs ; and al- 
though, unlike the European Cuckoo, they are faithfully 
paired, yet the pair are seldom seen in the same tree, but, 
shy and watchful, endeavour to elude every thing like 
close observation. The male, however, frequently be- 
trays his snug retreat by his monotonous and guttural 
kow koio how koiv, or koo koo koo koo , and ko kuk , ko kuk , 
koo koo koo kuk , koo ko koo , koo ko koo , uttered rather low 
and plaintively, like the call of the Dove. At other times, 
the kow how kow , and Hk fk ’tk fk fdk, or 7 kh ’ kh ’kh ’ kh 
3 kali kow kow kow kow , beginning slow, rises, and becomes 
so quick as almost to resemble the grating of a watch- 
man’s rattle, or else, commencing with this call, termi- 
nates in the distant cry of kow kow kow. From this note, 
supposed to be most clamorous at the approach of rain, 
* Audubon, Orn. Biog. i. p. 19. 
