300 



THE BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 



+ C0CCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS, Wils. 



PLATE CCLXXVI.— Male and Female. 



I have not met with this sj:>ecies in the State of Louisiana more than half 

 a dozen times; nor indeed have I seen it at all in the Western States, except- 

 ing that of Ohio, where I have occasional^ observed an individual, apparently 

 out of its usual range. Some of these individuals were probably bound for 

 the Upper Lakes. The woody sides of the sea are the places to which this 

 species usually resorts. It passes from the south early in March, and con- 

 tinues its route through Florida, Georgia, and all the other States verging on 

 the Atlantic, beginning to rest and to breed in North Carolina, and extending 

 its travels to the Province of Maine. 



The flight of this species is swifter than that of its near relative, the 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, for which bird it is easily mistaken by ordinary 

 observers. It does not so much frequent the interior of woods, but appears 

 along their margins, on the edges of creeks and damp places. But the most 

 remarkable distinction between this species and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 

 is, that the former, instead of feeding principally on insects and fruits, pro- 

 cures fresh-water shellfish and aquatic larvae for its sustenance. It is, there- 

 fore, more frequently seen on the ground, near the edges of the water, or 

 descending along the drooping branches of trees to their extremities, to seize 

 the insects in the water beneath them. 



The nest of this bird is built in places similar to those chosen by the other 

 species, and is formed of the same materials, arranged with quite as little art. 

 The females lay from four to six eggs, of a greenish-blue, nearly equal at 

 both ends, but rather smaller than those of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It 

 retires southward full}' a fortnight before the latter. 



The observations respecting the curious manners of our Yellow-billed 

 Cuckoo, the subject of the last article, might be repeated here, for the 

 present species is similar in this respect, as has been ascertained by Dr. T. 

 M. Brewer of Boston. Its eggs are not onty smaller than those of the other 

 species, but also rounder, and of a much deeper tint of green; they measure 

 one inch and half an eighth in length, and seven-eighths in breadth. 



The Black-billed Cuckoo is rare in all the Southern States, my friend Dr. 

 Bachman never having seen it in the maritime districts of South Carolina, 



