310 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [1895 
Fisher) to August 23 (91). As far as I have been definitely 
able to note sets, they are 6 of 2, 3 of 3, and 2 of 4. I have 
found nests with all the eggs in the same state of incubation 
and others with various stages, from large young birds to eggs 
in different stages of incubation. At Wale Summit they were 
fairly common, on June 9 (’95) a nest contained 2 fresh eggs. 
Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (388). Black-billed Cuckoo, 
A common migrant and rare summer resident. May 8 (89, 
Resler) and May 21 (’93, Wholey) seem extremes of the spring 
movement, and August 4 (’95) to October 3 (’93, Wholey) 
cover the fall. On September 28 292, (Wholey) “they were 
the most numerous birds seen in the woods.” 
On July 7, ’93, (Gray) a nest with one young bird and 3 
nearly incubated eggs was found at Calverton, while further 
out the Franklin Road, in an overgrown corner, two broods 
were raised the same year. 
At Washington it is noted as “rare from May 2 to the middle 
of October” (Richmond). At Hagerstown, noted in July, August 
and September (’80), and from May 11 to September (’81, Small). 
At Vale Summit, on June 14, ’95, I found the nest, containing 
2 eggs about one-half incubated, of the only pair there. 
Family ALcepInIp“£—Kingfishers. 
Ceryle alcyon (390). Belted Kingfisher. 
Abundant during spring, summer and fall; a number winter 
in tidewater Maryland during mild seasons, only leaving when 
frozen out. The nest tunnel, in a bank, preferably but not 
always over water, is remarkably close to 4 inches in diameter 
and usually about 5 feet long, though I have seen two of not 
quite 2 feet and one of over 10. As a rule they go straight in 
but occasionally they make a bend. The nesting hole at the 
end is rounded in the shape of a flattened sphere and averages 
16 inches across by 8 inches high. In this, the first ege is laid 
on the bare ground, but by the time the eggs hatch about a quart 
