390 BIRDS—CUCULIDZ. 
within a couple of feet below the top of the bank and extends inwards, 
usually straight, but sometimes with an angle, from three to six feet. 
Usually no nest is made, but near the extremity the eggs are deposited 
in the midst of fish bones disgorged and excreted. The eggs are from five 
to seven, usually six, nearly spherical, clear shining white, and of very 
dense texture. They measure 1.30 by 1.05. The birds are very much 
attached to their nesting site. One nest on the bank of a gravel pit, I 
have dug down upon for several successive years, and the birds are not 
yet inclined to desert the spot. Another bank occupied by these birds 
was removed by a freshet, and a large sycamore tree which stood upon it 
was carried into the middle of the stream, where it remained with large 
quantities of earth adhering to the roots. In this earth the birds made a 
tortuous and difficult excavation, and successfully raised their young. 
FAMILY CUCULIDA. THE CUCKOOS. 
Feet zygodactyle by reversion of outer or fourth toe. Not scansorial; tail of eight or 
ten long soft feathers Bill with decurved tip, not formed for hammering; rictus am- 
ple. Tongue not extensile nor vermiform nor barbed. Salivary glands and hyoidean 
apparatus not peculiar. No nasal tufts of feathers. Arboreal and terrestrial. 
GENUS COCCYZUS. Vieillot. 
Wings pointed, shorter than the tail; the Ist and 2d quills shortened. Bill about equal 
to the head, stout at base, then compressed, curved throughout. Tibial feathers full, as 
in the hawks; tarsus not longer than toes. 
CoccyzUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS (Wils.) Bp. 
Black-billed Cuckoo. 
Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, AUDUBON, Orn. Biog., 1, 1831, 170; B. Am., iv, 1842, 300. 
—KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162.—W HEATON, Food of Birds, ete., Ohio 
Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 569; Reprint, 9—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 11.— 
JONES and SHULZE, I)lustrations of Nest and Eggs of Ohio Birds, Part I, 1879, Plate 3. 
Coccyzus domiritcus, READ, Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 1853, 395. 
Coccygus erythrophthalmus, KIRKPATRICK, Ohio Farmer, ix, 1860, 195.—WHEATON, Ohio 
Agric. Rep. for 1860, 1861, 361, 371; Reprint, 3, 13.—LANGDON, Revised List, Journ. 
Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 178; Reprint, 12. 
Black-billed Cuckoo, BaLiou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 136. 
Cuculus erythrophthalmus, WiLSON, Am. Orn., iv, 1811, 16. 
Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, BONAPARTE, Obs., Wils., 1825, No. 48. 
Coccyzus dominicus, NUTTALL, Man., i, 1832, 550. 
Coccygus erythrophthalmus, CABANIS, J. f. O., 1856, 104. 
Above uniform satiny olive-gray, or ‘‘ quaker color,” with bronzy reflections. Below 
pure white, sometimes with a faint tawny tinge on the fore parts. Wings with little or no 
rufous. Lateral feathers not contrasting with the central, their tips for a short distance 
