484 NOUTU AMEUICAN IJIRDS. 



Coccygus erythrophthalmus, Don. 



BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 



Cuculun n')i/linijih//i<i/,itii.t, Wii.min, Am. (Jrii. IV, 1811, 10, pi. xxviii, Coccjixux cry 

 l/ifop/i'/ia/iitus, lioN. ()l)s. Wils. 182.'), 18. — In. Consp. iHi'id, IV. - Ari>. Oiii. Hiog. 

 1, ls;l2, 170; V, ,"<2:i, pi. .\xxii, — in. Ilinls Aniciiiii, IV, 1,S4-J, ;tOn, pi. cdxxvi.— 

 liAli;i>, liiids N. .\iii. 18.'.8, 77. — Sii,. Cat. IHii'J, 323. — .Sa.mi r.l.s, 85. AV;/- 

 Ihiii/i/irys friil/irii/ili/liii/iiiii.i, lios. List, l.><38. ( 'tnri/-:ii!> (luiiiiiiic''..i, (LaI'II.) Nuit. 

 Mail. I, 1S32, .")r>tl [uot lit' l.AiliA.M, wliicli Iwliiiif^s rather vO C. itincriatniin, on ncoount 

 (if till' rcil (piills anil white edj,'!' of (nitcr tail-lVathrr). 



Si'. f'liAi!. Tiill ciitiioly lilark. I'piKT [larts {generally of a luotallio fri'i'oni.sli-olive, ashy 

 towarils till! liaso of the Mil; bciicalli iiiirc white, with a biowiiish-ycllow tiiifTL' on the 

 tiiroat. Fuller wobs ol' the i|iiills tiiiuicl witli ciiiiiaiiioii. I'lider .surface of all the tail- 

 feathers hoary ash-ora}'. All, e.xeeiit the central on eithi'r .siile, siilfused with darker to 

 the .short, hhiitih-white, and not well-defined tip. A naked red skin round the eye- 

 Len^'th, about I'i.OO; win<.'. "i.OO ; tail, 0.5t). 



IIaii. I'nited States to the Missouri plains, .south to lioLrota. Loealitics : Cuba (Cad. J. 

 IV, l.")l, iie.sts ; (iiNDi.. Ueperl. I, l.-ilitl, 'Jit.")); Ouateinula (Sai.vix, Ibis, II, •270); 

 .Mexiio and lin-ola (Sci,, Cat, :i'J.'5) ; Istli. Panama (Lawu. Ann. N. Y. Lye. VII, 62); 

 Costa Uica (Lawu. .\. \. Lye. I.\', I'JM). 



Tlii.s .sjiocies (liirer.s I'roiii tlio 0. (uiieriatHiiH in the bliick bill, and the 

 absence of bliuk on tlie tiiil-l'eiitliur.s, the white tips of which are much 

 shorter and less abru])tly ilefiued. One specimen (r),2ri3) from the Upjier 

 Mi.ssouri has a nmch stnuiger tinge of yellowish-cinnanion on the inner 

 webs of tlie ([uills th.in the other.s. The se.xes are iiuite similar. 



H.MiiTS. Tile lUack-billed Cuckoo, so closely allied with the common 

 sjiecies in respect to size, iii)pearance, habits, and till its general characteris- 

 tics, is also distril)iited tluouohont very nearly the same localities, where, 

 however, it is usually regarded as a much less abundtxnt bii-d. It is found 

 throughout the L'nited States as ftir west as the Missouri plains. Dr. 

 Woodhouse met with this liird in his expedition down the Zuni and Colo- 

 rado lii\crs, but states that he saw but very fe,w, either in Texas or in the 

 Indian Territory. Lembeye, De la Sagra, and Dr. (Jundlach include it as a 

 visitant, in the winter niontlis, to Cuba. Mr. Audubon met with this 

 Cuckoo in Louisiana only a few times in the course of his various re- 

 searches, and never in any Western State except Ohio. He does not .seem 

 to have been aware that it rver breeds south of North Carolina. From 

 thence to ^Maine, and even as far north as the Canadas, Xova Scotia, and 

 Southern Labrador, ho gives its its distribution during the breeding-sea- 

 •son. lie also regarded it tis much more common in low and wooded ground 

 on the Ijorders of the sea, where it freipients the edges of woods rather than 

 their interior, and chiefly on tin; edges of creeks, and in damj) idaces. Mr. 

 Xuttidl iippeared to have regarded it as very nearly as common as the Yel- 

 low-bill tin'oughout tiie I'nited States, and as extending its migrations as far 

 north as Xova Scotia and Newfoundland. He states that it is found in St. 



