A long, bristling crest; bill longer than head, stout, straight, and sharp.
Leaden-blue above, with many white bands and spots on the short, square tail and long, pointed wings.
Below white, with a blue belt across the breast, and the female with a brown belt also.
A Citizen of North America.
Belonging to no useful guild, but a rather startling, amusing neighbor, who always minds Ins own business and is an industrious fisherman.
"What was the other bird, who cried, 'kuk kuk!' on the outside of the woods? There, it is calling again! I'm sure that it is a Woodpecker!"
"Wrong again—it is a Cuckoo; the Yellow-billed one, I think, for the voice is louder and harsher than that of his Black-billed brother."
"What! a little blue and white bird like the one that bobs out of mother's carved clock at home? Oh, do let us try to find it! But this bird didn't say 'cuckoo'; it only cackled something like a Hen when she is tired of sitting."