310 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [1895 



Fisher) to August 23 ('91). As far as I have been definitely 

 able to note sets, they are 6 of 2, 3 of 3, and 2 of 4. I have 

 found nests with all the eggs in the same state of incubation 

 and others with various stages, from large young birds to eggs 

 in different stages of incubation. At Vale Summit they were 

 fairly common, on June 9 ('95) a nest contained 2 fresh eggs. 



Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (388). Black-billed Cuckoo. 



A common migrant and rare summer resident. May 8 ('89, 

 Resler) and May 21 ('93, Wholey) seem extremes of the spring 

 movement, and August 4 ('95) to October 3 ('93, Wholey) 

 cover the fall. On September 28 '92, (Wholey) "they were 

 the most numerous birds seen in the woods." 



On July 7, '93, (Gray) a nest with one young bird and 3 

 nearly incubated eggs was found at Calverton, while further 

 out the Franklin Road, in an overgrown corner, two broods 

 were raised the same year. 



At Washington it is noted as "rare from May 2 to the middle 

 of October" (Richmond). At Hagerstown, noted in July, August 

 and September ('80), and from May 1 1 to September ('81, Small). 

 At Vale Summit, on June 14, '95, I found the nest, containing 

 2 eggs about one-half incubated, of the only pair there. 



Family Alcedinid^ — Kingfishers. 

 Ceryle alcyon (390). Belted Kingfisher. 



Abundant during spring, summer and fall ; a number winter 

 in tidewater Maryland during mild seasons, only leaving when 

 frozen out. The nest tunnel, in a bank, preferably but not 

 always over water, is remarkably close to 4 inches in diameter 

 and usually about 5 feet long, though I have seen two of not 

 quite 2 feet and one of over 10. As a rule they go straight in 

 but occasionally they make a bend. The nesting hole at the 

 end is rounded in the shape of a flattened sphere and averages 

 16 inches across by 8 inches high. In this, the first egg is laid 

 on the bare ground, but by the time the eggs hatch about a quart 



