320 
KINGFISHERS 
blue, 1*22 x *92. Date , Gainesville, Fla., Apl. 9, laying; Buckingham Co., 
Va., May 13; Cambridge, May 25; Mt. Carmel, Ills., May 20. 
A long, slim, dovelike bird slips noiselessly by and disappears in 
the depths of a neighboring tree. If you can mark his position you 
will find him perched motionless, and apparently slightly dazed. After 
a moment he recovers and begins to hop about the tree in an active 
search of his favorite fare of caterpillars. He is especially fond of the 
kind which make nests in trees, commonly known as “tent cater- 
pillars/’ and if you examine the conspicuous homes of these pests you 
will frequently find them punctured with many holes made by the 
Cuckoo’s bill. A Cuckoo I shot at six o’clock one September morning 
had the partially digested remains of forty-three of these caterpillars 
in his stomach. 
The notes of the Cuckoo are strikingly characteristic, and while 
subject to much variation may be fairly represented by the syllables 
tut-tut , tut-tut , tut-tut , tut-tut , cl-uck-cl-uck-cl-uck, cl-uck-cl-uck, cl-uck , 
cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, cow. It is not usual, however, to hear the 
whole song given at once. 
388. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus ( Wits .). Black-billed Cuckoo. 
Ads. — Upperparts grayish brown with a slight green gloss; wings and tail 
the same, the latter narrowly tipped with white; underparts dull white; 
bill black. L., 11*83; W., 5*50; T., 6*26; B. from N., *74. 
Remarks. — This species is to be distinguished from the Yellow-billed 
Cuckoo chiefly by the absence of rufous in the wings, black in the tail, and 
yellow in the lower 
mandible. 
Range. — N. and S. 
A. Breeds mainly in the 
Transition zone from 
se. Alberta, s. Man., s. 
Que., and Prince Ed- 
ward Is. s. to Kans., 
Ark., N. C., and mts. of Ga. ; winters in S. A., to Peru. 
Washington, rather rare S. R., May 5-Oct., 6. Ossining, common S. R., 
May 3-Oct. 7. Cambridge, common S. R., May 12-Sept. 20. N. Ohio, 
tolerably common S. R., May 1-Sept. 25. Glen Ellyn, S. R., May 5-Oct. 21. 
SE. Minn., common S. R., May 8-Sept. 27. 
Nest, similar to that of the preceding, but more compactly built; location 
the same. Eggs, 2-5, greenish blue, of a deeper shade than those of the 
preceding species, 1*14 x *85. Date, Ossining, N. Y., May 28; Cambridge, 
May 20; Mt. Carmel, Ills., May 7; se. Minn., May 16. 
This species resembles the preceding in habits. The two birds may 
be distinguished in life by the differences in the color of their bills and 
tails. William Brewster has called my attention to an easily recognizable 
difference in their calls. The present species has a much softer voice, 
and the cow, cow notes are connected. 
Fig. 92. Tail-feathers of Black-billed Cuckoo. 
42 . Family Alcedinid^. Kingfishers. (Fig. 50 .) 
Kingfishers are most numerous in the Malay Archipelago, and the 
majority of the some one hundred and ninety known species are found 
