CUCKOOS 



(388) Coccyzus erythroph- 

 thalmus 



(Wilson) (Gr., reddish eye, referring to 

 the red eye-ring). 



BLACK -BILLED CUCKOO. 

 Both mandibles black. Plumage as 

 shown. Upper parts brownish-gray, 

 slightly glossed with greenish; tail like 

 the back but the feathers very nar- 

 rowly tipped with white. L., 11.50; 

 W.,5.25; T.,6.25. iVfii — A frail plat- 

 form of twigs, rootlets and weeds, 

 hned with catkins, in bushes or low 

 trees; three or four greenish-blue 

 eggs, 1. 1 5 X. 85, deeper colored and 

 smaller than those of the last species. 



Range — Breeds in the United 

 States and southern Canada, arriving 

 in May and leaving in Sept. for win- 

 ter quarters in South America. This 

 species is the most common in our 

 Northern States. 



Furthermore, they have no objectionable habits and do not, 

 as so often believed, ever deposit their eggs in nests of other 

 birds, a trick resorted to by the European Cuckoo, which 

 is an entirely different bird, belonging to another family. 



Two species are commonly fotmd in most of eastern 

 United States, the larger Yellow-billed Cuckoo being the 

 most abundant in southern states. 



The nesting habits of both species are the same, the 

 nests being loosely constructed platforms of twigs, lined with 

 catkins; so flat on top that the eggs sometimes roll off. 

 These are most often located in thickets, but sometimes on 

 the lower branches of trees. The eggs of the yellow-billed 

 species are a little larger and lighter colored than those of 

 the black-bDled one. They are sometimes deposited at 

 intervals of several days and there may be great differences 

 in the sizes and developments of young in the same nest 

 because of this. Their notes are guttural croakings, those 

 of the Black-billed Cuckoo being a rapidly repeated "cow, 

 cow, cow, cow, cow-uh, cow-uh, " etc. 



236 



