CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 29I 



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

 rence, and as far north as the county of Renfrew, Ontario. 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 dis- 

 tinguish it from the next species. I have found it to breed in the 

 county of Leeds at least a week 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 advanced. 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. It is rarer in the Bruce penin- 

 sula where I have seen it but twice. It does not appear to lay more 

 than four eggs in thelargest set, while the black-billed sometimes 

 has as many as six. {W. E. Saunders^ A summer resident around 

 Toronto, Ont., but rather scarce. A pair nest every season a short 

 distance from my house at Kew Beach. It is a late breeder, 

 seldom having eggs before the middle of July. On July 20tli, 

 1895, I found a nest containing two eggs at Kew Beach.' The 

 nest was built in a maple tree twelve feet from the ground. (W. 

 Raine) Nest taken at Ottawa, Ont., composed of twigs, leaves, 

 rootlets and catkins, lined with some soft vegetable material. 

 Eggs in sets ni four to six of a pale greenish colour. {G.R. White.) 



MUSEUM specimens. 



Only one specimen in our museum, purchased with the Holman 

 collection in 1885. We have two sets of four eggs each. One 

 taken by Dr. James Fletcher at Ottawa and the other in High 

 Park, Toronto, by Mr. W. Raine. Nest six feet from the ground 

 in a maple, composed of twigs, pine needles, and leaves. 



~.387tf. California Cuckoo. 



Coccyzus americanus occidentalis Ridgw. 1887. 



While being transferred across the Eraser River at Mount Leh- 

 man we passed near an island where I heard the unmistakable 

 notes of a cuckoo ; I directed the boat to the spot and the bird 



