436 CUCKOOS. 



This Cuckoo is common in southern Ontario, but elsewhere in 

 the Dominion it is rather rare. Nuttall has not mentioned one 

 peculiar habit of this bird, — that of laying eggs at such long inter- 

 vals that young in very different stages of maturity are frequently 

 found in the same nest, as also young birds and partially incubated 

 eggs. The practice of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds is 

 seldom indulged in, — indeed, the known instances are extremely 

 rare. 



BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 



RAIN CROW. 

 COCCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. 



Char. Above, olive brown with a slight metallic gloss, tinged with 

 ash toward the bill ; wings slightly tinged with rufous ; tail similar to 

 back, outer feathers slightly tinged with gray, narrowly tipped with white. 

 Beneath, white, tinged on the throat with pale buff. Bill black. Length 

 about 12 inches. 



Nest. On the edge of a swampy wood, usually in a retired situation 

 placed generally in a low bush; made of twigs, strips of bark, moss, and 

 catkins. Similar to the nest of the Yellow-billed, but somewhat firmer 

 and more artistic. 



Eggs. 2-6 (usually 4) ; deep glaucous green ; i.io X o-So. 



This species, so nearly related to the preceding, is also 

 equally common throughout the United States in summer, and 

 extends its migrations about as far as the line of Nova Scotia 

 or Newfoundland. This kind also exists in the island of St. 

 Domingo and Guiana, and the birds which visit us probably 

 retire to pass the winter in the nearest parts of tropical 

 America. They arrive in ]\Lissachusetts later than the Yellow- 

 billed Cuckoo, and the first brood are hatched here about the 

 4th of June. In Georgia they begin to lay towards the close 

 of April. Their food, like that of the preceding species, also 

 consists of hairy caterpillars, beetles, and other insects, and 

 even minute shell-fish. They also, like many birds of other 

 orders, swallow gravel to assist digestion. 



They usually retire into the woods to breed, being less 

 familiar than the former, choosing an evergreen bush or sap- 

 ling for the site of the nest, which is made of twigs pretty well 



