BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 



Coccyzus erythrophthaltnus Bonap. 



The Black-billed Cuckoo is a rather numerous bird in eastern North America 

 west to the Rocky Mountains. It breeds from' about the 35° of latitude north to Mani- 

 toba and Assiniboia, having been found as far north as latitude 51°. In Wisconsin it 

 is at least as abundant as the foregoing species, but it is still more shy and retired in 

 its habits, preferring for its haunts thickets near creeks and lakes. It is known by the 

 same local names as the congener, which shows that the birds are often confounded. 

 Its notes are similar, but I always could distinguish both species by their voices, though 

 the diiference can not be, described. Its strange voice is frequently heard, but the bird 

 itself is rarely seen, being very shy and furtive in its manners and winging its swift, 

 arrowy course through the densest foliage. Especially during the breeding season it 

 is very secretive, when it has much of the sneaky, skulking ways of the parasitic Euro- 

 pean Cuckoo {Cuculus canorus). Later in the season it is more likely to be seen when 

 its lithe form enlarges by the spreading of its wings and tail as the agile creature glides 

 noiselessly through the bushes and trees. 



In its habits, notes, plumage, in its manner of flight and nesting, and in its food 



habits it is so similar to the Yellow-billed Cuckoo that it can scarcely be distinguished 



by the field ornithologist, unless close by. The nest is a little better built than that of 



the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, being constructed externally of fine twigs, rootlets, the soft 



bark of the cedar, bark strips of the linden and iron wood, and, generally, there is also 



a better lining which consists of plant-wool, leaf-skeletons, and similar material. The 



eggs vary in number from two to seven, but sets of three and four are most common. 



They show^ a deeper color of bluish-green than those of the congener and are also smaller. 



DESCRIPTION: "Bill, entirely black. Upper parts generally of a metallic . greenish-olive, ashy towards the 

 base of the bill ; beneath, pure white, with a brownish-yellow tinge on the throat. Inner webs of the 

 quills tinged with cinnamon. Under surface of all the tail-feathers, hoary ash-gray. All, except the 

 central on either side, suffused with darker to the short, bluish-white, and not well-defined tip. A 

 naked red skin round the eye. 



Length about 12.00 inches; wing, 5.00; tail, 6.50 inches. (B. B. & R., II, p. 484.) 



Mangrove Cuckoo, Coccyzus minor Cabanis. This bird, also known as the Black- 

 eared Cuckoo, and in Jamaica as the "Young Old-man Bird," is an inhabitant of the 

 West Indies, Central and South America, but in the United States its range is a very 

 restricted one, being confined to the Keys and the west coast of Florida and the Gulf 

 coast of Louisiana. A variety, Maynard's Cuckoo, C. minor maynardi Ridgw., is found 

 in the Bahama Islands and southern Florida. The habits of these birds are apparently 

 the same as those of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



Ani, Crotophaga ani Linn. This peculiar species of Cuckoo, which is also known 

 as the Tick-bird, the Black Witch, Black Ani, Savanna Blackbird, etc., is common in the 

 West Indies and eastern South America, east of the Andes, and south to the northern 

 part of the Argentine Republic. It can only be considered as a straggler within our 

 borders, having been found on the Florida Keys and at Charlotte Harbor, Fla. According 

 to Major Chas. Bendire, a flock of five of thes^ birds was seen in July, 1893, at Diamond, 

 Louisiana, opposite Point la Hache. 



