C. H. Merriam Birds of Connecticut. 63 



Family, ALCEDINID^E. 



133. Ceryle alcyon (Linne) Boie. Belted Kingfisher. 



A common summer resident about water courses and along the 

 coast. Arrives during the latter part of March (Mar. 29, 1877), re- 

 maining into November (Nov. 13, 1875). A few sometimes winter. 

 One was seen near Hartford, Feb. 13, 1874, by Mr. K. C. Humphrey.* 

 Mr. Fred. S. Smith, of this city, informs me that he once found 

 the eggs of this species placed on a bed of fish bones, about six feet 

 from the entrance to the hole. This was near Lake Whitney, Conn. 

 In this latitude their eggs are generally deposited during the latter 

 part of May. Josselyn, in enumerating the birds of New England, 

 in 1675, says there are " Kings fishers, which breed in the spring in 

 holes in the Sea-bank, being unapt to propagate in Summer, by 

 reason of the driness of their bodies, which becomes more moist 

 when their pores are closed by cold."f 



Family, CUCTJLID^E. 



134. COGCyzUS erythrophthalmus (Wilson) Bonaparte. Black-billed 

 Cuckoo. 



A common summer resident, arriving about the middle of May 

 (May 15, 1876), and remaining till the latter part of September 

 (Sept. 28, 1875). 



135. COGCyzus AmericariUS (Linne) Bonaparte. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



A common summer resident. Arrives early in May (May 7, 1876), 

 remaining into October (Oct. 11, 1873, shot, Hall). Both Mr. Coe 

 and myself have found, on the same day, and in the same Cuckoo's 

 nest, fresh eggs and young birds. 



Family, PICID^E. 



1 36. HylotomilS pileatUS (Linne) Baird. Piieated Woodpecker. 



A rare winter visitant ; it was once common throughout the State, 

 but is now almost exterminated and driven into the less civilized dis- 

 tricts. Linsley gave it from Stratford and New Haven. Mr. W. W. 

 Coe tells me that a specimen was killed near Portland, Conn., in 



* MS. notes of John H. Sage, Esq. 



f Voyages to New England, p. 101, 1675. 



