( 170 )
T H E BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO.
COCCYZUS EJtYTHROPIITHALMUS, CH. B O N A P .
P L A T E X X X I I . M A L E A N D F E M A L E .
I H A V E 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,
excepting that of Ohio, where I have occasionally observed an individual,
apparently 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, procures fresh-water shellfish and aquatic larvae 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 Yellowbilled
Cuckoo. It retires southward fully a fortnight before the latter.
I t being so scarce a species in Louisiana, I have honoured it by placing
a pair on a branch of Magnolia in bloom, although the birds represented
were not shot on one of these trees, but in a swamp near some,
• After the summer showers, the ground is seen covered with multitudes of very small
frogs, of a brownish-black colour, which many of the inhabitants foolishly suppose to have
descended from the clouds. Some of these I have occasionally found in the stomach of
the Black-billed Cuckoo.
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 171
where the birds were in pursuit of such flies as you see figured, probably
to amuse themselves. The Magnolia has already been presented to
your view in another plate, where it was figured in seed. Here yon have
it arrayed in all the beauty of its splendid blossoms.
C O C C Y Z U S E R Y T H R O F H T H A L M U S , Ch. Bonap. Synops. of Birds of United States, p. 4 2 .
B L A C K - B I L L E D C U C K O O , C U C U L U S E R Y T H R O P H T H A L M A , Wils. Amer. Ornith. voL iv.
p. 15. PL xxviii. fig. 2 .
Adult Male. Plate XXXII. Fig 1.
Bill as long as the head, compressed, slightly arched, acute, not more
robust than that of many Sylvia?; upper mandible carinated above, its
margins acute and entire; lower mandible carinated beneath, acute.
Nostrils basal, lateral, linear-elliptical, half-closed by a membrane. Head
and neck of ordinary size. Body rather slender. Feet short and small;
tarsus scutellate before and behind ; toes two before, separated; two behind,
one of which is versatile ; the sole flat; claws slender, compressed,
arched.
Plumage blended, soft, slightly glossed. Wings long, the first quill
short, the third longest. Tail long, graduated, of ten feathers, which are
rather narrow and rounded.
Upper mandible brownish-black ; lower bluish. Iris hasel. A bare
space of a deep scarlet tint around the eye. Feet dull blue. The general
colour of the upper parts is light greenish-brown. Cheeks and forehead
tinged with greyish-blue. Tail-feathers, excepting the two middle
ones, tipped with white. Under parts brownish-white.
Length 1 1 | inches, extent of wings 15; beak along the ridge
along the gap 1£.
Adult Female. Plate XXXII. Fig. 2.
The female differs very little in external appearance from the male,
and is nearly of the same dimensions.
T H E G R E A T M A G N O L I A.
M A G N O L I A G R A N D I F L O R A , Wild. Sp. PL voL ii. p. 1255.
This plant has already been described at p. 28, the ripe fruit having
been represented in Plate V.