Plate III 



COCCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS'Black'billed Cuckoo. 



There are only three species of the family Cuculidw in North America; two of these, the Black 

 and the Yellow-billed, are common to this state. The former comes from its winter home about the first 

 of May ; nidification begins a few weeks later. Only one brood is usually raised during the season. 



LOCALITY: 



The place usually selected for the nest is a wood where there is a thick underoTOAvth, and where 

 the grape, ivy and other climbing vines are found. 



While no particular tree or shrub seems, more than another, adapted to its use, the low, damp 

 places near rivers and smaller streams are more likely to be chosen than the high lands, probably owing 

 to the greater luxuriance of suitable vegetation near the water-courses. 



POSITIOInT : 



The nest is built either upon a horizontal or in a perpendicular fork of a tree, upon a cluster of 

 small branches, the top of a stump, the stems of the stronger climbing vines or a similar position 

 affording a suitable resting-place, and is always surrounded by thick foliage. 



Its height varies from one foot to about thirty feet, but is rarely, if ever, found directly upon the 

 ground. The nests of low position, are usually built in the perpendicular forking of stunted elms, 

 thorns or other small trees. The higher nests are built among the vines. 



MATEEIALS: 



The materials of construction are sticks, twigs, thorns, grasses, rootlets, strips of bark, blossoms 

 and catkins. 



The sticks are variable in size, and with the thorns form the foundation ; the whole is loosely 

 thrown together and is a minature of the hawk's nest. Catkins of the oak, poplar, etc., or grape 

 blossoms, with grasses, weed fibres and rootlets, form the lining and are often worked into the founda- 

 tion. Frequently strips of bark, leaves or lichens, are added to the usual twigs, thorns and catkins. 



EGGS : 



The complement of eggs is from two to five, usually four. They are of a light bluish-green color 

 when blown, sometimes mottled with a darker shade, and vary exceedingly in shape ; some are elliptical 

 Avhile others only approach that form, and have an average measurement of 1.12 x .83. 



They are usually deposited one every day, but quite an interval may elapse, so that young birds 

 and almost fresh eggs may be found in the same nest. 



DIFFERENTIAL POmTS : 



The nests and eggs of the Yellow and Black-billed Cuckoos resemble each other closely, and it is 

 not always possible to differentiate the two. ]S"ests of the former are often found which could not be 



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