ow? 
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, 
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, and the tail-feathers with only sniall, 
Coccyzus inconspicuous whitish tips. It resem- 
erythrophthaimus. bles the Yellow-bill in habits, but, as 
Mr. Brewster tells me, its ¢u¢ 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. 
KINGrisHers. (FAMILY ALCEDINID2.) 
Of the one hundred and eighty known Kingfishers, 
only eight are inhabitants of the New World, the head- 
quarters of the family being in the East Indies. The New 
World species are mostly tropical, and but one of the eight 
reaches the eastern United States. This is our common 
