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THE BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO 
COCCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS, Wils. 
PLATE OOLXXYI. — Male and Female. 
I have not met with this species 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 occasionally observed an individual, appa- 
rently 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 continues 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 larvse for its sustenance. It is, 
therefore, 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 fully 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 only 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-. 
