390 BIRDS — CUCULID^. 



within a couple of feet below the top of the bank and extends inwards, 

 usually straight, but sometimes with an angle, from three to six feet. 

 Usually no nest is made, but near the extremity the eggs are deposited 

 in the midst of fish bones disgorged and excreted. The eggs are from five 

 to seven, usually six, nearly spherical, clear shining white, and of very 

 dense texture. They measure 1.30 by 1,05. The birds are very much 

 attached to their nesting site. One nest on the bank of a gravel pit, I 

 have dug down upon for several successive years, and the birds are not 

 yet inclined to desert the spot. Another bank occupied by these birds 

 was removed by a freshet, and a large sycamore tree which stood upon it 

 was carried into the middle of the stream, where it remained with large 

 quantities of earth adhering to the roots. In this earth the birds made a 

 tortuous and difficult excavation, and successfully raised their young. 



FAMILY CUCULIDiE. THE CUCKOOS. 



Feet zygodactyle by reversion of outer or fourth toe. Not scansorial ; tail of eiglit or 

 ten long soft feathers Bill with deourved tip, not formed for hammering ; rictus am- 

 ple. Tongue not extensile nor vermiform nor barbed. Salivary glands and hyoidean 

 apparatus not peculiar. No nasal tufts of feathers. Arboreal and terrestrial. 



Gbnus COCCYZUS. Vieillot. 



Wings pointed, shorter than the tail ; the 1st and 2d quills shortened. Bill about equal 

 to the head, stout at base, then compressed, curved throughout. Tibial feathers full, as 

 in the hawks ; tarsas not longer than toes. 



CoCCYZUS ERTXHEOPHTHALMUS (Wils.) Bp. 

 3Bla,ck-billed. Oiich;oo. 



Coecyzus erytliropMliahnus, Audubon, Orn. Biog., 1, 1831, 170 ; B. Am., iv, 1842, 300. 

 — KiRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162. — VTheaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio 

 Agrio. Eep. for 1874, 1875, 569; Reprint, 9.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Gin., 1877, 11.— 

 JoNKa and Shulzk, Illustrations of Nest and Eggs of Ohio Birds, Part 1, 1879, Plate 3. 



Coeoyzus dominicua, Eead, Proo. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 1853, 395. 



Coccygua erythrophthalmua, Kiekpateick, Ohio Farmer, ix, 1860, 195. — Whbaton, Ohio 

 Agric. Eep. for 1860, 1861, 361, 371 ; Eoprint, 3, 13. — Langdon, Revised List, Journ. 

 Gin. Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 178 ; Reprint, 12. 



Black-biUed Cnokoo, Ballou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 136. 



Cuculua erythroplitlialmus, Wilson, Am. Orn., iv, 1811, 16. 

 Coccyzua eryllirophtlialmua, Bonapartb, Obs., Wils., 1825, No. 48. 

 Coeoyzus dominious, Nuttall, Man,, i, 1832, 550. 

 Coccygus erythropkthalmua, Gabanis, J. f. O., 1856, 104. 



Above uniform satiny olive-gray, or " quaker color," with bronzy reflections. Below 

 pure white, sometimes with a faint tawny tinge on the fore parts. Wings with little or no 

 rufous. Lateral feathers not contrasting with the central, their tips for a short distance 



