Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0044/00449.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 17KB | 267 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00449}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Yellow-billed Cuckoo}
$Subject{Cuculinae; Coccyzus; americanus; Yellow-billed Cuckoo}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume IV}
$Volume{Vol. 4:293-299}
$Family{Cuculinae}
$Genus{Coccyzus}
$Species{americanus}
$Common_Name{Yellow-billed Cuckoo}
$Log{
Plate CCLXXV*00449P1.scf
Family*00447.txt
Genus*00448.txt
Figure*0044901.scf}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  IV.
                        --------------------------------


                           THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO.
             [Yellow-billed Cuckoo (see also Black-billed Cuckoo).]


                           COCCYZUS AMERICANUS, Linn.
                             [Coccyzus americanus.]


                        PLATE CCLXXV.--MALE and FEMALE.


     Were I inclined, like many persons who write on Natural History, to
criticise the figures given by other students, I should find enough to be
censured; but as my object is simply to communicate the result of studies to
which I have devoted the greater part of my life, I shall content myself with
merely recommending to those intent on the advancement of that most interesting
science, to bestow a little more care on their representations of the bills,
legs and feet of the species which they bring into notice, and let it be seen
that they indeed borrow from nature.
     From Nature!--How often are these words used, when at a glance he who has
seen the perfect and beautiful forms of birds, quadrupeds or other objects, as
they have come from the hand of Nature, discovers that the representation is not
that of living Nature!  But I am deviating from the track which I wish to
follow, my desire being simply to give you an opportunity, good reader, of
judging for yourself as to the truth of my delineations, and to present you with
the results of my observations made in those very woods where the subjects have
been found and depicted.
     The flight of the bird now before you is rapid, silent, and horizontal, as
it moves from one tree to another, or across a field or river, and is generally
continued amongst the branches of the trees in our woods.  When making its way
among the branches, it occasionally inclines the body to either side, so as
alternately to shew its whole upper or under parts.  During its southward
migration, it flies high in the air, and in such loose flocks that the birds
might seem to follow each other, instead of their keeping company together.  On
the other hand, early in March, the greater number enter our southern boundaries
singly, the males arriving first, and the females a few weeks after.  They do
not fly in a continued line, but in a broad front, as, while travelling with
great rapidity in a steamboat, so as to include a range of a hundred miles in
one day, I have observed this Cuckoo crossing the Mississippi at many different
points on the same day.  At this season, they resort to the deepest shades of
the forests, and intimate their presence by the frequent repetition of their
dull and unmusical notes, which are not unlike those of the young bull-frog.
These notes may be represented by the word cow, cow, repeated eight or ten times
with increasing rapidity.  In fact, from the resemblance of its notes to that
word, this Cuckoo is named Cow-bird in nearly every part of the Union.  The
Dutch farmers of Pennsylvania know it better by the name of Rain Crow, and in
Louisiana the French settlers call it Coucou.
     It robs smaller birds of their eggs, which it sucks on all occasions, and
is cowardly and shy, without being vigilant.  On this latter account, it often
falls a prey to several species of Hawks, of which the Pigeon Hawk (Falco
columbarius) may be considered as its most dangerous enemy.  It prefers the
Southern States for its residence, and when very mild winters occur in
Louisiana, some individuals remain there, not finding it necessary to go farther
south.
     This bird is not abundant anywhere, and yet is found very far north.  I
have met with it in all the low grounds and damp places in Massachusetts, along
the line of Upper Canada, pretty high on the Mississippi and Arkansas, and in
every state between these boundary lines.  Its appearance in the State of New
York seldom takes place before the beginning of May, and at Green Bay not until
the middle of that month.  A pair here and there seem to appropriate certain
tracts to themselves, where they rear their young in the midst of peace and
plenty.  They feed on insects, such as caterpillars and butterflies, as well as
on berries of many kinds, evincing a special predilection for the mulberry.  In
autumn they eat many grapes, and I have seen them supporting themselves by a
momentary motion of their wings opposite a bunch, as if selecting the ripest,
when they would seize it and return to a branch, repeating their visits in this
manner until satiated.  They now and then descend to the ground, to pick up a
wood-snail or a beetle.  They are extremely awkward at walking, and move in an
ambling manner, or leap along sidewise, for which the shortness of their legs is
ample excuse.  They are seldom seen perched conspicuously on a twig, but on the
contrary are generally to be found amongst the thickest boughs and foliage,
where they emit their notes until late in autumn, at which time they discontinue
them.
     The nest is simple, flat, composed of a few dry sticks and grass, formed
much like that of the Common Dove, and, like it, fastened to an horizontal
branch, often within the reach of man, who seldom disturbs it.  It makes no
particular selection as to situation or the nature of the tree, but settles any
where indiscriminately.  The eggs are four or five, of a rather elongated oval
form, and bright green colour.  They rear only one brood in a season, unless the
eggs are removed or destroyed.  The young are principally fed with insects
during the first weeks.  Towards autumn they become very fat, and are fit for
being eaten, although few persons, excepting the Creoles of Louisiana, shoot
them for the table.
     Whilst at Charleston in South Carolina, in the early part of June, 1837, I
was invited by JAMES SMITH RHETT, Esq., residing in the suburbs of that city, to
visit his grounds for the purpose of viewing the nest of this bird.  This I did
in company with my friend Dr. SAMUEL WILSON, and we found ourselves highly
gratified, as we were enabled to make the following observations:--
     A nest, which was placed near the centre of a tree of moderate size, was
reached by a son of the gentleman on whose ground we were.  One of the old
birds, which was sitting upon it, left its situation only when within a few
inches of the climber's hand, and silently glided off to another tree close by.
Two young Cuckoos nearly able to fly scrambled off from their tenement among the
branches of the tree, and were caught by us after awhile.  The nest was taken,
and carefully handed to me.  It still contained three young Cuckoos, all of
different sizes, the smallest apparently just hatched, the next in size probably
several days old, while the largest, covered with pin-feathers, would have been
able to leave the nest in about a week.  There were also in the nest two eggs,
one containing a chick, the other fresh or lately laid.  The two young birds
which escaped from the nest, clung so firmly to the branches by their feet, that
our attempts to dislodge them were of no avail, and we were obliged to reach
them with the hand.  On now looking at all these young birds, our surprise was
indeed great, as no two of them were of the same size, which clearly shewed that
they had been hatched at different periods, and I should suppose the largest to
have been fully three weeks older than any of the rest.  Mr. RHETT assured us
that he had observed the same in a