. Birds of Washington and vicinity, including adjacent parts of Maryland and Virginia . s crest and a verylong, heavy bill. He is found along streams wher-ever there are good fishing places, and is frequentlyseen from Rock Creek bridge in the Zoological stations himself on a branch overhanging the KINGFISHER. 129 water and watclics until a fish i)asses below, wdiendown he plunges after him, often going entirely under,but instantly emerging with the fish in his bill. Fly-ing to a perch near by he shakes himself, beats the lishagainst a branch until it is dead, then swallows itwhole. Eac
. Birds of Washington and vicinity, including adjacent parts of Maryland and Virginia . s crest and a verylong, heavy bill. He is found along streams wher-ever there are good fishing places, and is frequentlyseen from Rock Creek bridge in the Zoological stations himself on a branch overhanging the KINGFISHER. 129 water and watclics until a fish i)asses below, wdiendown he plunges after him, often going entirely under,but instantly emerging with the fish in his bill. Fly-ing to a perch near by he shakes himself, beats the lishagainst a branch until it is dead, then swallows itwhole. Each pair of Kingfishers is said to have its ownfishing grounds and not to trespass on a neighborspreserves. They always fish up stream and when theycome to the end of their route make a wide detourback to the starting place, sweeping in with the loud,rattling cry which is their characteristic call. The nest is in a hole in a high bank of the streamand is at the end of a long burrow, five or six feetfrom the entrance. A half dozen pure white eggs arelaid. I30 ] ELL OIV-BILLED CI TKO YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Coccyzus amcricanus. Length 12 inches; tail half the length. Upper parts brownish-gray with a greenish gloss; wingsblack, washed with reddish-brown; outer tail-feathers blackwith white patches. Bill yellow at base and on lower man-dible. Under parts white. Resident (common) from May 2 to October 15; wintersin Central and South America. We have two Cuckoos, the Yellow-billed and theBlack-billed, much alike except for the color of thebill. The Yellow-billed is the common species, theother being quite rare. Although a large bird andrather conspicuous from his long tail with its white thumb-marks, he keeps so closely in the densesttrees and is so noiseless in his movements that we sel-dom notice him. His call, however, is not unfamiliar, BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 131 and is written k-kiil\ k-kuk\ k-kuk. As it is supposedto be a sign of rain, be is eonnncjnly calle
Size: 1753px × 1425px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthormaynardlucywarner1852, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
