20 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO.
I t 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.
The branch, among the foliage of which you see the male and female
winging their way, is one of the Papaw, a tree of small size, seldom more
than from twenty to thirty feet in height, with a diameter of from
three to seven inches. It is found growing in all rich grounds, to which
it is peculiar, from the southern line of our States to central Pennsylvania,
seldom farther eastward, here and there only along the alluvial
shores of the Ohio and Mississippi. In all other places of like nature
you may meet with groves of Papaw trees, covering an acre or more of
ground. The fruit, which is represented in the plate, consists of a pulpy
and insipid substance, within which are found several large, hard, and
glossy seeds. The rind is extremely thin. The wood is light, soft,
brittle, and almost useless. The bark, which is smooth, may be torn off
from the foot of the tree to the very top, and is frequently used for making
ropes, after it has been steeped in water sufficiently to detach the
outer part, when the fibres are obtained, which, when twisted, are found
to be nearly as tough and durable as hemp. The numerous islands of
the Ohio and all the other western rivers are generally well stocked with
this tree.
COCCYZUS AMERICANUS, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 42.
CUCULUS AM ERIC ANUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 170.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 219.
CAROLINA CUCKOO, Lath. Synopsis, vol. ii. p. 527«
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, CUCULUS CAROLINENSIS. Wils. Americ. Ornilh. vol. iv.
p. 13. PI. 28. fig. 1.
Adult Male. Plate I I . Fig. 1.
Bill as long as the head, compressed, slightly arched, acute, scarcely
more robust than in many Sylvia? ; upper mandible carinated above, its
margins acute and entire; lower mandible carinated beneath, acute.
Nostrils basal, lateral, linear-elliptical, half closed by a membrane. Feet
short; tarsus scutellate before and behind; toes two before, separated ;
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 21
two behind, one of which is versatile, the sole flat; claws slender, compressed,
arched.
Plumage blended, slightly glossed. Wings long, the first quill short,
the third longest, the primaries tapering. Tail long, graduated, of ten
feathers, which are rather narrow and rounded.
Upper mandible brownish-black, yellow on the margin towards the
base; under mandible yellow. Iris hazel. Feet greyish-blue. The general
colour of the upper parts, including the wing-coverts and two
middle tail-feathers, is light greenish-brown, deeper anteriorly. Primary
quills with the inner webs brownish-orange. Tail-feathers, excepting the
two middle ones, black, the next two entirely black, the rest broadly tipped
with white, the outermost white on the outer web. The under parts
are greyish-white.
Length 12^ inches, extent of wings 1 6 ; bill along the ridge 1, along
the gap
Adult Female. Plate I I . Fig. 2.
The female differs very little from the male in colouring.
THE PAPAW TREE.
PORCELIA TRILOBA, Pursh, Flor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 383. ANONA TRILOBA, Willd. Sp.
PI. vol. ii. p. 1267« Mich. Arbr. Forest, de l'Amer. Sept. voL iii. p. 1G2. P I . 9.
—POLYANDRIA PoLYGYNIA, Linn. ANON^, JUSS.
Leaves obovato-cuneate, acuminate, smoothish; outer petals orbiculate;
fruits oblong, large, and fleshy. The leaves are from six to ten
inches long ; the flowers of a rich dark purple.