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Range (North America breeds) (VII)

North America; breeds from Florida to New Brunswick, and winters in Central and South America.

Washington, common S. R., May 2 to Oct. 15. Sing Sing, common S. R., May 4 to Oct. 31. Cambridge, common S. R., May 12 to Aug. Nest, a platform of small sticks, with a few grasses or catkins, generally in low trees or vine-covered bushes, four to ten feet from the ground. Eggs, three to five, pale greenish blue, 1·22 × 92.

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 for his favorite fare of caterpillars. He is especially fond of the kind which make nests in trees, commonly known as tent caterpillars," 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.

KINGFISHERS. 388. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (Wils.). BLACK - BILLED