CUCULID^— COCCYGINJE : AMERICAN CUCKOOS. 



475 



saddled on a branch or in a fork. Though not habitually parasitic, thoy often slip an egg in 

 other birds' nests, or in each other's. Oviposition is tardy or irregular ; the nests usually con- 

 tain eggs in diflFerent stages of development, or eggs and young together. They are well-knouTi 

 inhabitants of our streets and parks as well as of woodland, noted for their loud, jerky cries, 

 which they are supposed to utter most frequently in falling weather, whence their popular 

 name, " rain-crow." Migratory, insectivorous, and frugivorous. 



Analysis of Species. 

 Bill black and bluish. 



White below. Wings with little or no cinnamon. Tail-feathers not broadly white-ended. 



Bill black and yellow. Tail-feathers broadly white-ended. 



White below. Wings extensively cinnamon americanus 429 



Tawny below. Ears dusky seniculus 



Fig. 32T. — Yellow-billed Cuckoo, i nat. size. (From Brehm.) 



438. C. erythrophthal'mus. (Gr. epv6p6s, eruthros, reddish ; d(j)Ba\fi6i, ophthahnos, eye.) Black- 

 billed Cuckoo. ^ 9 '• Bill blackish except occasionally a trace of yellowish, usually bluish 

 at base below. Above, satiny olive-gray. Below, pure white, sometimes with a faint tawny 

 tinge on the fore-parts. Wings with little or no rufous. Lateral tail-feathers not contrasting 

 with the central, their tips for a short distance blackish, then obscurely white ; no bold contrast 

 of black with large white spaces. Bare circumocular space livid : edges of eyelids red. Length 

 11.00-12.00 ; extent about 15.50 ; wing 5.00-5.50; tail 6.00-6.50 ; bill under an inch. Very 



