He is, however, worthy of consideration. He is of great value to farmers and apple-growers because of his appetite for caterpillars and grasshoppers. Professor Beal wrote as follows: “The common observation that cuckoos feed largely on caterpillars has been confirmed by stomach examination. Furthermore, they appear to prefer the hairy and spiny species, which are supposed to be protected from the attacks of birds. The extent to which cuckoos eat hairy caterpillars is shown by the inner coatings of the stomachs, which frequently are so pierced by these hairs and spines that they are completely furred. The apple-tree tent-caterpillar and the red-humped apple-caterpillar are also eaten. In all, caterpillars constitute two-thirds of the total food of the yellow-billed cuckoo in the South. Few birds feed so exclusively upon any one order of insects.
“The natural food for cuckoos would seem to be bugs and caterpillars which feed upon leaves, as these birds live in the shade among the leaves of trees and bushes. Not so with grasshoppers, whose favorite haunts are on the ground in the blazing sunshine, yet these creatures are the second largest item in the cuckoo’s diet. Grasshoppers are so agreeable an article of food that many a bird apparently forsakes its usual feeding grounds and takes to the earth for them. Thus it is with the cuckoos; they quit their cool, shady retreats in order to gratify their taste for these insects of the hot sunshine. But there are some members of the grasshopper order that live in the shade, as katydids, tree crickets, and ground crickets, and these are all used to vary the cuckoo’s bill of fare.”[124] It eats, also, bugs that injure oranges and melons, and the cotton-boll weevil in large numbers.
THE LEAST FLYCATCHER OR CHEBEC
Flycatcher Family—Tyrannidæ
In March, there comes to us from the South the phœbe, inconspicuous in plumage, yet easy to identify because of its distinctive call. About a month later there arrives the smallest member of our Flycatchers,—the Chebec or Least-Flycatcher. Less than five and a half inches in length, slender, olive-brown above, grayish-white beneath with an indistinct grayish band across the breast, this little bird might escape our notice were it not for its oft repeated and unmistakable call-note. It announces its presence by uttering its name Chebec, as clearly and persistently as its cousins, the phœbe and pewee, say theirs.
The chebec is a bird to be found in orchards, by roadsides, and in trees of village streets. Like other members of its family it seeks conspicuous perches, from which it dives after flies, moths, and other insects, returning to its perch to wheeze out its name, with jerks and twitches of its tail.
It breeds from central Canada to central United States as far south as Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and in the Alleghany Mts. to North Carolina; winters from Mexico to Panama and Peru.
KINGBIRD
THE KINGBIRD
Flycatcher Family—Tyrannidæ
Length: About 8½ inches.
Male and Female: Upper parts dark gray; under parts pure white, with an indistinct grayish wash at the sides of the breast; head grayish-black, slightly crested, with a concealed orange patch; bill with bristles at the base; wing-feathers and upper tail-coverts tipped or edged with white; tail fan-shaped in flight, showing a broad white band at the end.
Note: An unmusical, rattling Squeak-squeak? squeak-squeak-squeak? uttered frequently, and apparently in an irritated mood. The sharply hooked beak and fierce-looking eye also give the appearance of pugnacity.
Habitat: Orchards, trees by roadsides, and near farm-buildings. One looks for the kingbird in open country, not in woodlands; he seeks conspicuous perches. The nests are placed in trees—in those of orchards preferably.
Range: North and South America. Breeds from South-central Canada and throughout the United States except in the south-west; winters from Mexico to South America.