120 



Birds of Pennsylvania. 



winters occur in Louisiana, some individuals remain there, not findingr 

 it necessary to go farther south. Tl^^ feed on insects, such as cater- 

 pillars and butterflies, as well as on^oerries of many kinds, evincing a 

 special prediliction for the mulberry. In autumn they eat many 

 grapes. They now and then descend to the ground to pick up a wood- 

 snail or a beetle." 



According to AVilson the diet of this species consists for the most 

 part of caterpillars, particularly such as ini'est apple trees. They also 

 eat various kinds of berries. But from the circumstance of destroying 

 such numbers of very noxious larvae, they prove themselves the 

 friends of the farmer and are highly deserving of his protection." 



No. 



Date. 



July 15, 1879, 

 July 15, 1879, 

 June 5, 1880, 



June 5, 1880, 

 June 5, 1880, 

 May 26, 1883, 

 June 1, 1883, 



June 1, 1883, 

 July 28, 1883, 



Locality. 



West Bradford, Pa., 

 Pocopson, Pa., . 

 Chester county, Pa., 



Chester county. Pa., 

 Chester county, Pa., 

 West Chester, Pa., . 

 Pocopson, Pa., . . . 



Pocopson, Pa., . . 

 Chester county. Pa,, 



Food-Materials. 



Grasshoppers and snails {helix). 



Beetles (on apple tree). 



Caterpillars (feeding in apple or- 

 chard). 



Caterpillars and fragments of beetles. 



Caterpillars. 



Beetles. 



Stomach gorged with insects, chiefly 

 caterpillars (feeding in locust 

 trees). 



Many caterpillars and fragments of 

 beetles (feeding in locust trees). 



Berries. 



388. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (Wils.). 



Black-billed. Cuckoo. 



Description. 



Bill entirely black ; upper parts generally of a metallic greenish-olive, ashy to- 

 wards the base of the bill ; beneath pure-white, with a brownish-yellow tinge on 

 the throat ; inner webs of the quills tinged with cinnamon ; under surface of all the 

 tail feathers hoary ash-gray ; all except the central, on either sitle, sufl'used with 

 darker to the short, bluish-white, and not well-defined tip; a naked redskin around 

 the eye ; iris brown. 



Length about 12 inches ; extent about IG ; wing, 5 ; tail, 6.50. 



Hab. — Eastern North America, from Labrador and Manitoba south to the West 

 Indies and the valley of the Amazon ; west to the Rocky mountains. Accidental in 

 the British Islands and Italy. 



This species is found in Pennsylvania only as a summer resident- 

 It arrives generally a few days after the Yellow-billed has made its 

 appearance, and returns to its southern winter resorts about two weeks, 

 Audubon says, earlier than the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



In February, 1885, 1 saw several of these birds in the Florida orange 

 orchards. The nest, a frail structure of twigs, bark, and in some in- 

 stances blossoms of different plants, is placed on a low tree or bush. 

 The eggs, usually two or four, are mostly a trifle smaller and darker 



