In the Woods. 183 



-. ^. _, . smaller, beins^ but little over eig-ht inches lone, and is 

 Southern Hairy , , i, . ^ , , ■ v 



Woodpecker marked like its congener, except that there are fewer 



Dryobates viiiosus audu- white .spots on the wings and the white on the upper parts 



bonii (Swains,). - • i r 



IS more restricted. 



Contrasted with this Southern type is the bird known as the Northern 



-T ^. ,, . Hairy Woodpecker, which attains a maximum length of 



Northern Hairy / , ^ , ' , . , ,• , 



Woodpecker nearly eleven inches and is the representative geographica,! 



Dryobates viuosus race north of the United States, sometimes crossing our 



eucome as o . . northern borders in the colder portions of the year. 



There are two kinds of Cuckoos that are found in our woodlands, the 



Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos. They are both long slim birds of a 



Yellow-billed general dove colored brown with slight greenish irides- 



Cuckoo. cence above, and grayish white below. The Black-bill is 



coccyzusamericanus(Linn.). the Smaller of the two, being about eleven inches and a 



Ri It h'11 fi ^^^^ ^0"g'> while the Yellow-billed bird is twelve inches or 



Cuckoo more in length. The Black-billed Cuckoo is distinguished 



coccyzus erythrophthaimus by the color of its bill, indicated by its name. The 



(wiis.). other bird has the lower half of the bill yellow, except at 



the tip, and all but a few of the wing feathers are bright cinnamon brown on 



their inner webs, becoming darker brown at their tips. The two middle tail 



feathers are dove brown much darker than the back. The other tail feathers 



are black, the outer ones edged on the outer web and tipped with pure 



white, and all the others except the two middle ones tipped with white. 



The tail of the Black-billed Cuckoo is like the wings in color and the white 



tips and markings are not so extensive as in the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



Both birds build nests, consisting of a loose platform of sticks and some- 

 times some grasses or other plant fibres. They are placed in the lower 

 branches of the smaller trees or in bushes from five to ten feet from the 

 ground. The eggs of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo vary from two to five in 

 number, and are light greenish blue in color. They are about an inch and a 

 fifth long and nine tenths of an inch in their smaller diameter. The Black- 

 billed Cuckoo's eggs are rather darker in shade and a little smaller than those 

 of its congener;^ 



Both birds range throughout Eastern North America during the warmer 



