CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 3I9 



Order COCCYGES. Cuckoos and Kingfishers. 



Family XXXII. CUCULID^ Cuckoos. 

 CLXIV. COCCYZUS Vieillot. i8i6. 

 387- Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



Coccyzus americanus (Linn.) Bonap. 1824. 



Very rare in Nova Scotia, one taken near Halifax. (Downs.) 

 A rare summer resident in New Brunswick. (Chamberlain.) Acci- 

 dental visitant; rare. A few examples of this species have been 

 shot on the island of Montreal. I am not aware of any occurring 

 of late years. (Wintle.) A rare summer resident in Quebec. 

 (Dionne.) 



A summer resident at Ottawa, Ont. A pair nested in Lt. Col. 

 White's garden in the city in 1890. (Ottawa Naturalist, Vol. V.) 

 This species is rather scarce and not generally distributed in Ontario, 

 and is believed to be more southern in its habit than the black- 

 billed cuckoo. (Mcllwraith.) Rather common summer resident 

 at Toronto, Ont., where it breeds; it was regarded as very rare 

 there until 1889. I have met with it nesting at Rosseau, and I 

 believe it occurs at Emsdale in the Parry Sound and Muskoka 

 districts. (/. H. Fleming.) 



Breeding Notes. — Occasionally met with along the St. Law- 

 rence, and as far north as the county of Renfrew, Ont. This bird 

 is readily distinguished from the black-billed cuckoo by its larger 

 size and the amount of white it shows in the outer tail feathers as it 

 flies along. There are other peculiarities which distinguish it from 

 the next species. I have found it to breed in the county of Leeds 

 at least a weak or ten days earlier. Its nest also is further from 

 the ground and very loosely put together. I have found its nest 

 five times. The last two near Lansdowne, Ont., May 29th, 1898, 

 and May 23rd, 1899. Each contained three eggs, incubation ad- 

 vanced. They are plainly larger and paler than eggs of the black- 

 billed. A nest I found in May, 1888, near Renfrew, Ont., contained 

 one egg. This nest was placed in a willow. (Rev. C. J. Young.) 

 Twenty years ago this species was rather rare, but now it is more 

 common than the black-billed and the latter is less so than formerly. 



