THE AMERICAN BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 



61 



Also 12 arachnida. Bendire also records in addition to larvae, 

 grasshoppers, beetles, cicadas, small snails and different kinds of 

 fruit, and Davison winged ants. Perhaps occasionally also eggs. 

 Widmann adds Ephemerce in spring and elderberries in autumn. 



Distribution. — British Isles. — Rare vagrant. About twelve as 

 follows :— England and Wales. — Pembroke, autumn, 1832. Corn- 

 wall about 1835. Cardigan, Oct. 29, 1870. Lundy Is. (Devon), 

 Oct., 1874. Dorset, Oct. 5, 1895. Isle of Wight, Oct., 1896. 

 Anglesey, Nov. 10, 1899. Somerset, Oct. 6, 1901. Hants. 

 Oct. 30, 1901. Scotland.— Colonsay Isle (Argyll.), Nov. 6, 1904. 

 Ireland. — Cork, autumn, 1825. Dublin, autumn, 1832 (cf. YarrelL 

 Saunders, and Brit. B., i, p. 284, iv, p. 126). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — South-eastern parts of North America, 

 migrates through West Indies and Central America, and winters 

 in South America. Rare straggler to Greenland, Europe (Italy, 

 Belgium, ? France). Replaced by closely allied subspecies in 

 western U.S. and British Columbia and in South America. 



COCCYZUS ERYTHROPTHALMUS 



229. Coccyzus erythropthalmus (Wilson) — THE AMERICAN 

 BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 



Cucttlus ERYTHROPTHAiMA Wilson, Amer. Orn., iv, 1811, 16, pi. 28, 

 fig. 2 (1811 — Typical locality probably near Philadelphia). 

 Coccyzus erythrovhthalmus Yarrell, 11, p. 415 (footnote) ; Saunders, p. 290 

 (in text). 



Outer tail-feather of the American Yellow-billed Cuckoo {Coccyzus a. americanus). 





Outer tail-feather of the American Black -billed Cuckoo (C. erythropthalmus). 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter. — Upper-partsjas 

 C. a. americanus but with rather more bronzy gloss ; ear-coverts 

 as upper-parts and not so dark as in C. a. americanus ; under-parts 

 as in C. a. americanus but often with more buff tinge on throat and 

 under tail-coverts ; tail-feathers, all as upper-parts, central pair 

 with very narrow whitish tips, rest with broader white tips (much 

 narrower than in C. a. americanus and remainder of feather brown 



