SPECIES 2. C UC UL US ER YTHROPHTHALMUS. 
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 
[Plate XXVIIL— Fig. 2.] 
Peals’s Museum, JVa. 1854. 
This Cuckoo is nearly as numerous as the former; but has 
hitherto escaped the notice of European naturalists; or from its 
general resemblance has been confounded with the preceding. 
Its particular markings, however, and some of its habits, suffi- 
ciently characterize it as a distinct species. Its general colour 
above is nearly that of the former, inclining more to a pale ash 
on the cheeks and front; it is about an inch less in length; the 
tail is of a uniform dark silky drab, except at the tip, where 
each feather is marked with a spot of white, bordered above 
with a slight touch of dull black; the bill is wholly black, and 
much smaller than that of the preceding; and it wants the bright 
cinnamon on the wings. But what constitutes its most distin- 
guishing trait is a bare wrinkled skin, of a deep red colour, that 
surrounds the eye. The female differs little in external appear- 
ance from the male. 
The Black-billed Cuckoo is particularly fond of the sides of 
creeks, feeding on small shell-fish, snails, &c. I have also often 
found broken pieces of oyster-shells in its gizzard, which, like 
that of the other, is covered with fine downy hair. 
The nest of this bird is most commonly built in a cedar, much 
in the same manner, and of nearly the same materials, as that of 
the other; but the eggs are smaller, usually four or five in num- 
ber, and of a rather deeper greenish blue. 
This bird is likewise found in the state of Georgia, and has 
not escaped the notice of Mr, Abbot, who is satisfied of its be- 
ing a distinct species from the preceding. 
END OP VOL. I. 
