of the cuckoo family appeared. He saw us instantly, and, I regret
to say, was no more reconciled to our presence than he had been
on the previous occasion; but he showed his displeasure in a
different way. He rushed about in the trees, crying, ‘cuck-a-ruck,
cuck-a-ruck,’ running out even to the tip of slender branches that
seemed too slight to bear his weight. When his feelings entirely
overcame him he flew away, and though we remained fifteen minutes,
no one came to the nest.”
E. A. Samuels (1883) writes:
Like the other, the Black-billed Cuckoo is very cowardly,
and is quickly driven from the neighborhood of the nest of
almost any of the other birds. If a robin, or other bird of
equal size, discover one of these, to him pirates, in the
vicinity of his nest, he immediately assaults the intruder,
with loud outcries, pouncing upon him, and pecking with
great ferocity. Others of his neighbors, who are near,
join in the attack; the Cuckoo, in retreating, dives into
the recesses of a stone wall, or the first secure retreat
available; very seldom taking to his wings, as another bird
would do, I have known of a cuckoo being driven into a barn
by a Blue-bird (_S. sialis_), who sat perching on a fence
outside for several minutes, keeping his enemy prisoner;
and the latter, when pursued and captured by myself,
preferred being my prisoner to facing his enemy outside.
_Voice._--One cannot always distinguish with certainty _all_
the notes of the black-billed cuckoo from _all_ those of the
yellow-billed. Many of the notes are much alike in both species.
The notes of the black-billed are, as a rule, softer and more
liquid than those of the yellow-billed and not so deep-toned.
The ordinary “song” of the black-billed is preceded by a gurgling
note, and the rest of the long song is uttered in regularly
measured time, not retarded at the end, as is that of the
yellow-billed, and the notes are given in couplets or triplets,
one syllable in each set being accented. Dr. Charles W. Townsend
(1920a) describes it very well as follows: “The full song may be
described as a preliminary harsh clearing of the throat followed by
from six to twelve short coughs which in turn are succeeded by the
more pleasing doublets and triplets of _cows_. The Yellow-billed
Cuckoo repeats his _cows_ or _cowks_ in regular order without
dividing them into sets and they sound as woodeny as if he were
striking a plank with a mallet.”
Aretas A. Saunders (1929) says: “The bird has a variety of calls.
One consists of a gurgling note followed by single notes in even
time, ‘krak-ika kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh’. Another is a
series of groups consisting of two to six notes repeated many
times, with one of the notes strongly accented, such as ‘_kuka kuka
kuka_,’ or ‘ka_kuk_aka ka_kuk_aka ka_kuk_aka.’ I have known a bird
to repeat such phrases over a hundred times without stopping.”
The notes of the black-billed cuckoo are often given on the nest
or while the bird is in flight, and they may be heard at all hours
of the day or night. Both cuckoos are said to be more noisy just
before a rain, hence the name “rain crow.”
Mr. Brewster (1937a) says that “both species coo in the same
subdued, mournful, dovelike tones, but when so engaged, the
Yellow-bill always utters only a single note at a time, and then
waits at least a second or two before following it with another
precisely similar; whereas the cooing notes of the Black-bill
are invariably doubled or trebled or quadrupled, or perhaps even
quintupled, yet separated from one another within such grouping by
scarcely appreciable pauses.”
Gerald H. Thayer (1903) has given an interesting account of
what he calls “the mid-summer, mid-night, mid-sky gyrations of
the Black-billed Cuckoo, as noted by my father and me for three
consecutive seasons in the southwestern corner of New Hampshire”:
Several years before we discovered the nocturnal-flight
phenomenon, we began to be puzzled by the extreme frequency
of Cuckoo calls on summer nights. * * * They uttered both
the _cow-cow_ notes and the rolling guttural call; but the
guttural was much the commoner of the two, except on dark,
foggy nights, when the case was usually reversed. * * * The
birds were often so far up as to be only faintly audible
when directly overhead, with no obstructions interposed;
and this on a still night would seem to mean an elevation
of at least a hundred and fifty yards. They sometimes flew
lower, however, and on cloudy nights often moved about
barely above the tree-tops.
* * * On the evening of July 11--a pitch-dark evening with
a thunder-shower lowering,--they were remarkably noisy,
both sitting in trees and flying high in air. The seated
ones, of which I heard only two, made the _cow-cow_ notes,
while all the flying ones made the liquid gurgle. I heard
this note overhead between thirty and forty times in the
course of about three hours, during half of which time I
was afoot on the road.
_Field marks._--This bird may be recognized as a cuckoo by its
size, shape, and general coloration. It can be distinguished from
the yellow-billed cuckoo by the absence of the distinguishing
marks of the latter, the cinnamon-rufous in the wings, and the
conspicuously black-and-white lateral tail feathers.
The wings of the black-billed cuckoo are practically uniform in
color with its back; and the lateral tail feathers are dark gray,
with inconspicuous, grayish-white, smaller tips, bordered inwardly
with a dusky spot. The wholly black bill and the red eyelids can be
seen only at short range.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Southern Canada and the United States east of the
Rocky Mountains, south in winter to northwestern South America.
Accidental in Italy, the Azores, and Ireland.
_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the black-billed cuckoo
extends =north= to southern Saskatchewan (Johnstone Lake, Muscow,
and Indian Head); southern Manitoba (Carberry, Portage la Prairie,
and Shoal Lake); northern Minnesota (Crooked Lake); southern
Ontario (probably Goulais Bay, Toronto, and Stirling); Quebec
(Hull, Montreal, probably Quebec, and probably Kamouraska); New
Brunswick (Scotch Lake); probably Prince Edward Island (North
River); and Nova Scotia (Wolfville and Pictou). From this point the
range extends =south= along the seaboard to North Carolina (Raleigh
and Winston-Salem); Tennessee (Beersheba Springs and Nashville);
northwestern Arkansas (Rogers); eastern Kansas (Lawrence and
Clearwater); Nebraska (Red Cloud, Kearney, and Antioch); and
southeastern Wyoming (Wheatland). =West= to eastern Wyoming
(Wheatland and Dayton); eastern Montana (Terry); and Saskatchewan
(Johnstone Lake).
The species has been detected in summer on several occasions west
of its breeding range. Among these are: Colorado (Fort Morgan,
Clear Creek, Fort Collins, and Wray); Wyoming (Laramie); Montana
(Fort Keogh, Knowlton, and Billings); and western Saskatchewan
(Eastend, Skull Creek, Medicine Hat, and Big Stick Lake). On June
23, 1924, a partially completed nest was found near Camrose,
Alberta, a range extension that for the time being must be
considered unusual (see remarks under “Food”). The species also
was recorded at Godbout, Quebec, on August 11, 1885.
_Winter range._--Available information indicates that in winter
this species is concentrated in northwestern South America:
Colombia (Antroquia, Medellin, and Bogota); Ecuador (Guapulo,
La Carolina, Daule, Puna Lake, and Lechugal); and northern Peru
(Huamachuco).
_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida--
Hastings, April 13; Eau Gallie, April 27; Pensacola, May 2.
Alabama--Scottsboro, April 18; Barachias, April 22. Georgia--Atlanta,
April 24; Athens, April 27. South Carolina--Frogmore, April 24;
Spartanburg, April 29. North Carolina--Raleigh, April 15; Piney
Creek, May 4. Virginia--Blacksburg, April 26; Lynchburg, May 8.
District of Columbia--Washington, April 30. Maryland--Baltimore,
April 20. Pennsylvania--Jeffersonville, April 30; Ridgway, May
6; Doylestown, May 9. New Jersey--Milltown, May 2; Passaic, May
7. New York--Medina, May 3; New York City, May 9; Rochester, May
15. Connecticut--Fairfield, May 1; Hadlyme, May 4; New Haven, May
7. Rhode Island--Block Island, May 6. Massachusetts--Belmont,
May 4; Marlboro, May 6; North Amherst, May 12; Danvers, May 12.
Vermont--Clarendon, May 12; St. Johnsbury, May 13; Wells River,
May 18. New Hampshire--East Westmoreland, May 16; South Hooksett,
May 16; Concord, May 21. Maine--South Portland, May 11; Winthrop,
May 15; Waterville, May 20. Quebec--Montreal, May 10; Hatley, May
28. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, May 27. Nova Scotia--Halifax,
May 12; Wolfville, May 18. Louisiana--Avery Island, April 12.
Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, April 14. Arkansas--Fayetteville,
April 30; Broma Towns, May 2. Tennessee--Knoxville, April 12;
Tate, April 26. Kentucky--Lexington, May 1; Bowling Green, May 6.
Missouri--Jonesburg, May 3; Montgomery City, May 4; Columbia, May
7. Illinois--Rantoul, April 17; Elgin, May 5; Glen Ellyn, May 7.
Indiana--Bloomington, April 26; Richmond, April 27; Vincennes,
May 7. Ohio--Oberlin, May 1; Columbia, May 2; Upper Sandusky,
May 3. Michigan--Detroit, May 1; Brant, May 3; Sault Ste. Marie,
May 11. Ontario--Guelph, April 19; Ottawa, May 7; London, May 9.
Iowa--McGregor, April 24; Mason City, April 30; Wall Lake, May
3. Wisconsin--Racine, May 8; Beloit, May 10; Whitewater, May 11.
Minnesota--Montevideo, April 13; Anoka County, May 5; Excelsior, May
13. Oklahoma--Tulsa, May 3; Norman, May 5. Kansas--Fort Leavenworth,
May 6; Bendena, May 8; Clearwater, May 9. Nebraska--Valentine, May
1; Red Cloud, May 11; Omaha, May 13. South Dakota--Yankton, May 1;
Huron, May 13; Forestburg, May 15. North Dakota--Grafton, April 25;
Antler, May 3; Jamestown, May 23. Manitoba--Aweme, May 20; Pilot
Mound, May 24; Reaburn, May 26. Saskatchewan--Muscow, May 12; Indian
Head, May 20.
_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Manitoba--
Margaret, September 3; Aweme, September 14. North Dakota--Fargo,
September 13; Cando, September 18; Argusville, September 22.
South Dakota--Forestburg, September 6; Sioux Falls, September 22;
Lennox, October 14. Kansas--Cimarron, September 2; Osawatomie,
September 22. Minnesota--Elk River, September 27; Red Wing,
October 2. Wisconsin--New London, September 24; Racine, September
24; Madison, September 26. Iowa--Wall Lake, September 28; Osage,
October 10; McGregor, October 20. Ontario--Ottawa, September 16;
Point Pelee, October 18. Michigan--Charity Island, September 20;
Grand Rapids, September 26, Detroit, October 9. Ohio--Saybrook,
October 1; Berlin Center, October 12; Columbus, October 15.
Indiana--Indianapolis, October 2; Fort Wayne, October 12; Bicknell,
October 18. Illinois--Rantoul, October 4; La Grange, October 7;
Glen Ellyn, October 21. Missouri--Columbia, October 4; St. Louis,
October 16. Kentucky--Danville, October 5; Bowling Green, October 18.
Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, October 11. Nova Scotia--Sable Island,
September 25. Quebec--Montreal, September 5. Maine--Orono, September
21; Winthrop, October 20. New Hampshire--Jefferson, October 3;
Durham, October 5. Vermont--Wells River, September 14; Woodstock,
September 18. Massachusetts--West Groton, September 30; North
Truro, October 13; Harvard, October 16. Rhode Island--Providence,
October 23. Connecticut--New Haven, September 28; East Portland,
October 3; Meriden, October 8. New York--Hyde Park, October 6; New
York City, October 10. New Jersey--Elizabeth, October 3; Sandy
Hook, October 5; Milltown, October 24. Pennsylvania--McKeesport,
October 11; Jeffersonville, October 13; Pittsburgh, October 16.
District of Columbia--Washington, October 28. Virginia--Naruna,
October 18. North Carolina--Chapel Hill, October 3; Raleigh,
October 10; Hendersonville, October 12. Georgia--Atlanta, October
14; Thomasville, October 21. Alabama--Autauga County, October 16.
Florida--College Point, September 28; Pensacola, October 23.
_Casual records._--While the black-billed cuckoo does not migrate
regularly through the Caribbean region it has been recorded on
Dominica (September 30, 1904), Tobago, and Trinidad. Gundlach is
alleged to have taken a specimen in May (year?) near Cardenas,
Cuba, and there is a somewhat doubtful record from the Isle of
Pines on May 11, 1909. Specimens were taken in Bermuda in October
1874 and also in April and May 1875. The Ponta Delgada Museum has
an undated specimen taken at San Miguel, Ponta Delgada, Azores;
a specimen taken in 1858 near Lucca, Italy, is preserved in the
Museum of the University of Pisa; and one was taken on September
25, 1871, at Killead, County Antrim, Ireland.
_Egg dates._--Illinois: 13 records, May 7 to July 20; 7 records,
June 1 to 26, indicating the height of the season.
Massachusetts: 20 records, May 19 to June 20; 10 records, May 30 to
June 10.
Michigan: 14 records, May 25 to September 14; 7 records, June 21 to
July 20.
New York: 23 records, May 11 to July 18; 12 records, May 29 to June
9.
CUCULUS OPTATUS OPTATUS Gould
HIMALAYAN CUCKOO
CONTRIBUTED BY EDWARD CHARLES STUART BAKER
HABITS
The Himalayan cuckoo very closely resembles the various races of
the common cuckoo (_Cuculus canorus_) in its general habits, but
it is, I think, a more secretive bird, keeping closely to tall
trees with dense foliage, so that although one may hear its very
distinctive call on many occasions quite close by it is often
very difficult to see until it takes to wing. In Kashmir and the
northwest Himalayas it is found in summer at all elevations between
5,000 and 10,000 feet and occasionally to some 2,000 feet higher
but, never, I believe, above the forest line. In Sikkim it is
common in well-forested land between 4,000 and 9,000 feet, while
Stevens (1925) records having heard it calling at an elevation of
3,500 feet on May 25, so that it may breed as low down as this in
that part of the Himalayas. In Assam it is very common between the
same elevations as in Sikkim, there also keeping closely to forest,
either deciduous, pine, or evergreen with dense undergrowth. All
ornithologists seem to agree as to the nature of the country
frequented by this cuckoo. In letters to me A. E. Jones mentions
“dense forest,” “dense deodar forest” as the breeding haunts of
birds whose eggs he has found; B. B. Osmaston (MS.) found it in
“open, well-wooded forest.” Mackenzie and Hopwood (MS.) took eggs
in the nests of _Acanthopneuste davisoni_ in the Chin Hills, in
“heavy evergreen forest.” The only exception to this of which I am
aware is an egg taken by T. R. Livesey (MS.) found in Kashmir in a
nest of _Emberiza cia stracheyi_ in a “well-wooded glade in forest.”
At all seasons of the year it keeps almost entirely to branches of
high trees, some 40 or 50 feet or more from the ground, descending
to the undergrowth only when hunting for nests in which to deposit
its eggs or for the actual deposition of the egg. When so employed
it is, I believe, always silent and, even in its movements, very
quiet and secretive unless it is being harassed by small birds
who hunt it just as they do the common cuckoo. I have not seen
this bird feeding in bushes or on the ground even when there are
numerous caterpillars or a flight of termites to tempt it.
When on migration also this cuckoo seems to keep to forest or to
exceptionally well-wooded country, and I have no record of its
having been found in the open in India, though obviously it must
sometimes pass over such country in its movements from one district
to another, more especially in the northwest.
_Spring._--In Kashmir and the northwest Himalayas the birds arrive
from the lower hills and the plains adjoining them in April, a few
apparently in the first fortnight, but the majority not until the
last week or so. In Sikkim they arrive a good deal earlier, and
Stevens (1925) records them as _seen_ at Gopaldhara in the Rambong
Valley about the middle of March “when it ascends to an elevation
of 7,000 feet,” while he _heard_ them calling at the same place as
early as March 12. Farther east in Assam it does not arrive at its
breeding quarters in the higher hills until about the first week
in April and then only in small numbers. In Burma at elevations of
about 4,000 feet and over it breeds about a fortnight earlier and
is in full call by the last week in March.
This cuckoo is possibly only a partial migrant in India, leaving
the higher hills for the broken foothills, where it may be found
more or less throughout the winter, as well as in the plains
immediately adjoining them. To the east, however, as I show under
the fall migration notes, it is a true migrant. According to La
Touche (1931–1936), during the spring migration north the Himalayan
cuckoo “appears in China from about the 10th April to the end of
May,” and he records three cuckoos taken at Shaweishan on May 1,
16, and 17. These birds were presumably on their way north to
eastern Siberia or Manchuria.
La Touche does not think that this bird breeds anywhere in the
Chinese Hills, its place being taken by the local breeding race
_kelungensis_.
The 38 eggs in my collection were taken as follows: Three in April,
14 in May, 20 in June, none in July, and 1 in August. The earliest
date was April 25, 1915, and the latest August 20, 1914. At the
same time an egg taken in the Chin Hills on April 30 was on the
point of hatching, so, in the Burmese Hills, some eggs must be
laid in the middle of that month, birds arriving in their breeding
haunts at least a fortnight earlier. Other eggs that have passed
through my hands were all taken within these dates so far as I have
recorded them, so they may be accepted as confirming my dates for
migration.
_Courtship._--There is nothing recorded upon this subject but, so
far as I know, it differs in no way from that of the Khasia Hills
cuckoo, and both sexes seem to be equally promiscuous in their
sexual relations.
_Nesting._--This cuckoo is parasitic principally on the small
warblers of the _Phylloscopus_ and _Acanthopneuste_ group, which
lay white eggs, either immaculate or speckled slightly with various
tints of reddish brown or red, or the _Seicercus_ group, which lay
glossy pure white eggs.
In my own collection I have eggs taken from the nests of 16 species
and subspecies of fosterers (see the following list); of these the
first 10 may be considered to be normal fosterers and the latter
abnormal.
The Himalayan cuckoo does adopt a certain territory but hardly
in the restricted sense that _Cuculus canorus_ and its various
races do. The principal reason for this is the comparative rarity
of the birds that she selects as foster parents to her eggs. For
instance, although the little _Acanthopneuste_ breeding in the
Khasia Hills is a common bird, it nowhere breeds in the numbers in
which birds of the _Suya_ and _Cisticola_ genera are found. Perhaps
half a dozen pairs may be found in one big forest of many square
miles, and to find even these six is very hard work. In the same
forest another half dozen birds of the genus _Seicercus_ of various
species may be found. These little warblers of the two genera
_Acanthopneuste_ and _Seicercus_ make very similar nests, balls of
moss, quite green and fresh, which are placed in hollows in banks
and generally among the same kind of moss as that of which the
nests are built. They are exceedingly hard to find by human beings
and, unless the birds are watched on to the nest, are generally
located only when the female is disturbed from it by accident and
doubtless the cuckoo also finds they are difficult to mark down.
LIST OF FOSTER PARENTS
eggs
_Phylloscopus inornatus humei_ 2
_Phylloscopus proregulus simlaae_ 1
_Acanthopneuste reguloides harterti_ 13
_Acanthopneuste reguloides davisoni_ 3
_Acanthopneuste reguloides reguloides_ 1
_Acanthopneuste occipitatis occipitatis_ 4
_Seicercus cantator_ 3
_Seicercus burkii_ 2
_Seicercus xanthoschista xanthoschista_ 1
_Seicercus castaneiceps castaneiceps_ 2
_Ianthia rufilata_ 1
_Niltava sundara sundara_ 1
_Suya crinigera assamica_ 1
_Orthotomus atrogularis nitidus_ 1
_Napothera brevicaudata striata_ 1
_Emberiza cia stracheyi_ 1
I have only two small series of three eggs, each of which I believe
to have been laid by one cuckoo, one of these being taken in 1909
by myself. Of this latter the first two eggs were found on June 16
and 18 in a patch of forest in which we marked down three nests
of the Khasia crowned willow warbler, one of which contained no
cuckoo’s egg. On June 13 we found that the pair of warblers first
seen on May 16 had again built close by their original nest and the
new one contained a third egg, apparently of the same cuckoo, and
three of their own. The nests found on May 16 and 18 were between a
quarter and a half of a mile apart.
On another occasion, June 27, 1935, three eggs were taken, one
in the nest of the willow warbler and two others in nests of
_Seicercus_. These were all in the same forest, but only two close
together and the third nearly half a mile away. The eggs, however,
appeared obviously to have been laid by the same bird.
_Eggs._--The eggs of this species of cuckoo are all of the same
type, white eggs sparsely marked with tiny black specks, sometimes
confined to the larger end only. Several oviduct eggs have been
taken, the first by Brooks from the oviduct of a female he shot in
Kashmir on June 17, and three others by Rattray in 1903 on June 10,
15, and 17, respectively. All these were exactly alike and similar
to the description given above.
The only two exceptions in coloration I have seen are eggs one of
which has a faintly green tinge while the other has an equally
faint pink tinge. The first of these was taken from a forktail’s
(_Enicurus maculatus guttatus_) nest and the second from that of a
tailorbird (_Orthotomus atrogularis nitidus_).
In shape the eggs are rather long ellipses, and the shell is thin
and rather fragile for a cuckoo’s.
Forty-one eggs average in size 20.11 by 14.28 millimeters; maxima
=25.3= by =16.2=; minima =19.0= by =13.0= millimeters; the same
number average in weight 141.4 milligrams; maximum 178; minimum 117
milligrams.
A large double-yolked egg weighs 222 milligrams, while two very
small, almost pygmy eggs, weigh only 105 and 112 milligrams.
The method of the deposition of the eggs is not known, but in many
cases they could not possibly be laid direct into the nest. The
crowned willow warbler makes a nest in a hole in among the roots of
trees with so small an entrance and so far in that the cuckoo could
not possibly get in to lay her egg nor could she eject it from the
cloaca sufficiently far to reach the egg chamber and, if she did,
it would certainly break. Nests of the genus _Seicercus_ and of
_Acanthopneuste reguloides_ are so shaped and situated that though
the cuckoo could not enter them she could very often eject the eggs
into them without much difficulty by clinging to their tops or
sides during the operation.
_Young._--Nothing is recorded, as to incubation, but I believe it
to take only 10 or 11 days, i. e., much the same period as for the
eggs of the small warblers the cuckoo selects to cuckold.
Ejection of young undoubtedly takes place in the same manner as
that by which it is effected by the common cuckoo, the young cuckoo
hoisting the other occupants of the nest, either eggs or young
birds, onto its shoulder and then pushing them over the edge of the
nest. I have seen several young birds from two days to a week old
in the nests of various warblers, and they have always been alone.
The young cuckoo has the same dorsal interscapular arrangement as
that found in the nestling _canorus_ to assist it in carrying out
the fratricide.
_Plumages._--Male: Similar to the male of _Cuculus c. canorus_ and
_C. c. bakeri_ but less dark on the upper parts than the latter
and always to be distinguished from all races of the canorus group
by having the edge of the wing pure white and not barred. On the
lower surface the white bars are broader and the black bars in
consequence wider apart, while they are blacker and bolder in
appearance.
Female: Similar to the male but generally with a more rufous tinge
on the breast and abdomen; the under tail coverts are often pale
fulvous with black crossbars.
The female has a hepatic phase like that of _C. c. canorus_.