CL'Cl'LID.K TIIK CI (•K(»ns. 435 



Doininuo and (iuiiina, iin«l also, on tlio antliority <»t" Mi". Alibott, that it 

 bieeils in (JcoiLjia as t'aiiv us tlie 1st ni' Aiuil. Mr. AntliilMin says it was 

 never met with by I)r. liachnian in South Cantlina. It curtainly hivt'ds, 

 however, as far south, at h-ast, as (feoru'ia, as thu nest ami egj^'s of this sjie- 

 cies wore taken at Varnell Station, in the northwestern ]>art of tliat State, 

 l>y the hite Dr. Alexander CJerhardt. 



It is not mentioned l>y either Dr. (lamhrl or Dr. IK-ermann as anions; the 

 birds of tlie Paeitic Coast, and it does not appear to have been aetually 

 (d)tained by any of tlie expeditions to tlie I'aeitic beyond tlie Indian Terri- 

 tory. Its distril>ution, therefore, (hiring,' the breeding-season, w«>uld .seem to 

 be from ( Jeorgia to Canada, and from '''exas to Minnesota, inclusive of all the 

 intermediate territory. Dr. Newberry frecpiently saw and heard what he 

 su])i>osed to have been this speeies, in the trees bordering Cow Creek, near 

 Fort Heading, but as he did not secure a specimen, he may have been mis- 

 taken. It has been taken at Devil's Lake, in Minnesota, and in the lied 

 Kiver Settlement. 



Wilson descril)es the nest of this bird as generally built in a cedar, nnich 

 in the same manner, and of nearly the same materials, as that (»f the Vellow- 

 bill ; the eggs are smaller than those of that bird, usually four or live in 

 number, and of a deeper greenish-blue. 



Mr. Audubon speaks of the nest as built in ])laces similar to those chosen 

 by the other species, as formed of the same materials, au«l arranged with (piite 

 as little art. He gives the nund)er of iggs as fr(»ni four to six, of a greeni.sh- 

 blue, nearly equal at both ends, but rather smaller than tho.^e of the Vellow- 

 bill, rounder, and of a nnicli deeper tint of green. He gives their measure- 

 njent as !.')() inches in length and .87 of an inch in breadth. 



Mr. Xuttall, whose description more nearly corresponds with my own ob- 

 servations, speaks of this species as usually retiring into the woods to breed, 

 being less familiar than the former species, and choosing an evergreen bush 

 or sapling for the site of the nest, which is made of twigs pretty well put 

 together, but still little more than a concave llooring, and lined with moss 

 occasionally, and withered catkins of the hickory. The eggs are described 

 as smaller, and three to five in number, of a bluish-green. The female sits 

 very close on the nest, admitting a near a])]iroach before Hying. He also 

 speaks of this species as being less timorous than the Yellow-billed, and 

 states that near the nest, with young, he has observed the ])arent composedly 

 sit and plume itself for a considerable time without showing any alarm at 

 his presence. 



In all the instances in which I have obsen^ed the nest of this .species, I 

 have invariably found it in retired damp places, usually near the edges of 

 woods, and built, not in trees, after the manner of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 

 ))ut in bushes and in low shruV)])ery, often not more than two or three feet 

 from the ground. The nest, without being at all remarkable for its hnisli, 

 or the nicety of its arrangement, is nuich more artistic and elaborate tlian 



