BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



161 



numbers of very noxious larvae, they prove themselves the friends of the 

 farmer and are highly deserving of his protection. 



In the stomachs of nine of these birds I found the following food ma- 

 terials : 



Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (WILS.)- 



Black-billed Cuckoo ; Rain Crow ; Kow-bird. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 89). 



Size about same as Yellow-billed species ; bill entirely black (bluish-black about 

 base of lower mandible). Above bronzy grayish -brown, with greenish tint ; below- 

 white tinged with grayish and traces of yellowish especially on fore-parts; naked 

 eyelids bright red. Tail feathers with very small white tips ; eyes brown ; legs pale 

 bluish lead color. 



Habitat. 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 appear- 

 ance, and returns to its' southern winter resorts about two weeks, Audu- 

 bon says, earlier than the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



In February, 1885, I 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 alow tree or bush. The 

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

 than those of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Both species, according to my 

 observation, always build their own nests, and never, like the Cow Bunting, 

 deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds. The Rain Crows are ex- 

 tremely cowardly, and if attacked by any of their feathered neighbors, 

 whose nests they sometimes pillage, they immediately fly off and con- 

 ceal themselves in the dusky retreats of a tree or bush. In relation to 

 this bird, Audubon says : " The flight of this species is swifter than that 

 of its near relative, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, for which bird it is easily 

 mistaken by ordinary observers. It does not so much frequent the in- 

 terior of woods, but appears along their margins, on the edges of creeks 

 and damp places. The most remarkable distinction, however, between 

 this species and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is, that the former, instead of 

 11 BIRDS. 



