278. 1. Coccyzus Americanus, Linn. Yellow-billed American Cuckoo.—Rain Crow. Cow-bird.
Plate II. Male and Female.
Bill brownish-black above, with the margin of the upper, and nearly the whole of the lower mandible yellow; margin of the eye yellow; upper parts light greenish-brown, with a tinge of grey on the head; lower parts silvery white; quills with the inner webs brownish-orange; middle tail-feathers like the back, glossed with green, the rest brownish-black, all tipped with white, that colour gradually enlarging to the outer, which, besides, has nearly the whole outer web white.
Male, 121/2, 16. Female, 113/4, 151/2.
Breeds from Texas to Nova Scotia, and throughout the interior, to the eastern bar of the Rocky Mountains. Common. Many spend the winter in the Floridas.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cuculus carolinensis, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. iv. p. 13.
Coccyzus americanus, Bonap. Syn. p. 42.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 551.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 18; v. v. p. 520.
279. 2. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, Wils. Black-billed American Cuckoo.—Rain-Crow. Cuckoo-Bird.
Plate XXXII. Male and Female.
Bill black; margin of the eye blue, before and behind bright red; upper parts light greenish-brown; lower parts silvery-white, the breast and sides faintly tinged with yellow; quills with the inner webs pale buff toward the base; tail-feathers like the back, tipped with white.
Male, 111/2, 15.