392 BIRDS—CUCULIDA. 
The nest is built either upon a horizontal or in a perpendicular fork of a tree, upon a 
cluster of small branches, the top of a stump, the stemsof the stronger climbing vines 
or 2 similar position affording a suitable resting-place, and is always surrounded by 
thick foliage. 
Its height varies from one foot to about thirty feet, but is rarely, if ever, found 
directly upon the ground. The nests of low position, are usually built in the perpendi- 
cular forking of stunted elms, thorns or other small trees. The higher nests are built 
among the vines. 
The materials of construction are sticks, twigs, thorns, grasses, rootlets, strips of bark, 
blossoms and catkins. 
The sticks are variable in size, and with the thorns form the foundation; the whole 
is oosely thrown together and is a minature of the hawk’s nest. Catkins of the oak, 
poplar, etc., or grape blossoms, with grasses, weed fibres and rootlets, form the lining 
and are often worked into the foundation. Frequently strips of bark, leavesor lichens, 
are added to the usual twigs, thorns and catkins. 
The complement of eggs is from two to five, usually four. They are of a light bluish- 
green color when blown, sometimes mottled with a darker shade, and vary exceedingly 
in shape; some are elliptical while others only approach that form, and have an aver- 
age measurement of 1.12 x .83. 
They are usually deposited one every day, but quite an interval may elapse, so that 
young birds and almost fresh eggs may be fouvd in the same nest. 
The nests and eggs of the Yellow and Black-billed Cuckoos resemble each other 
closely, and it is not always possible to differentiate the two, Nests of the former are 
often found which could not not be mistaken for those of the Black-billed on account of 
the coarseness of the nest, larger size and paler color of theeggs; but the nest and eggs 
of the latter have no characteristics which might not belong to the former. However, 
as a rule, the nest of C. erythropkthalmus may be known from that of the C. americanus by 
the fact that it is constracted with more care, the sticks being somewhat smaller, the 
catkins less numerous, and the whole woven together in a firmer manner. The eggs are 
smaller, less elliptical, and of a slightly darker green. There are no nests oreggs of 
other birds in the limits of the state, with which these may be confounded by any mod- 
erately careful observer. 
Coccyzus AMBRICANUS (L.) Bonap. 
Wellow=billed Cuckoo. 
Coccyzus americanus, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Sury., 1838, 162.—ReaD, Proc. Phila. Acad. 
Nat. Sci, vi, 1853, 395 —-WuxEaTON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 
1875, 569; Reprint, 9—LaANGDoN, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 11.— JONES and SHULZE, 
Tilust. Nest and Eggs, Pt. 5, Pl. 14. 
Coccygus americanus, KIRKPATRICK, Ohio Farmer, ix, 1860, 179.—WuxaToNn, Ohio Agric. 
Rep. for 1260, 1861, 361, 371; Reprint, 3, 13.—LANGDON, Revised List, Journ. Cin. 
Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 178; Reprint, 12; Summer Birds, ib, iii, 1830, 225. 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, BALLOU, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 136. 
Cuculus americanus, LINNUS, Syst. Nat, i, 1766, 170. 
Coccyzus americanus, BONAPARTE, Obs. Wils, 1825, No. 47. 
Coccygus americanus, CABANIS, J. f. O., 1856, 104. 
Above as in the last; below pure white. Wings extensively cinnamon rufous on in- 
ner webs of the quills. Central tail feathers like the back, the rest black with large 
