KINGFISHERS. 113 



destructive " worms' nests " in our fruit and shade trees. 

 Indeed, we should be very much better off if Cuckoos 

 were more numerous. Nevertheless, there is something 

 about the Cuckoo's actions which always suggests to me 

 that he either has just done, or is about to do, something 

 he shouldn't. 



The Yellow-billed Cuckoo's call begins with a series 

 of tut-tuts or cl-ucks, and ends with a loud cow, cow, cow 9 

 cow, cow, cow. These notes are so unlike those of any 

 other of our birds, except those of the Black-billed 

 Cuckoo, that they will readily be recognized. 



The Black-billed Cuckoo resembles the Yellow-bill, 

 but has the bill wholly black, the skin about the eye red, 

 Black-billed Cuckoo an< ^ * ne tail-feathers with only small, 

 Coccyzus inconspicuous whitish tips. It resem- 



erythropUhaimus. bles ^ Q Yellow-bill in habits, but, as 

 Mr. Brewster tells me, its tut and cluck notes are softer, 

 and the cow-cow notes are connected. 



Both our Cuckoos are migratory, wintering in Cen- 

 tral and South America. They return to us about May 

 5, and remain until October. Their nests are carelessly 

 made platforms of sticks with a few catkins added as a 

 lining, and are usually placed in tangles of vine-covered 

 bushes, or the lower limbs of trees. The eggs, three to 

 five in number, are pale, greenish blue, those of the 

 Black-bill being slightly smaller in size and darker in 

 color than those of its yellow-billed cousin. 



KINGFISHERS. (FAMILY ALCEDINID^.) 



Of the one hundred and eighty known Kingfishers, 

 only eight are inhabitants of the ISTew World, the head- 

 quarters of the family being in the East Indies. The IsTew 

 World species are mostly tropical, and but one of the eight 

 reaches the eastern United States. This is our common 



