182 KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



2. Road-runner (385. Geocdccyx caUfornid.niis). — A large, 

 long-tailed, crested, coarse-plumaged, ground bird, with the 

 body striped with buffy and bronze-brown, somewhat glossed 

 with green. Skin around the eye naked. (Ground Cuckoo.) 



Length, 20-24 ; wing, 6| (6]-7) ; tail, 10-12 ; tarsus, 2 ; culmen, 2. 

 Kansas and Colorado to California, and south to central Mexico. 



3. Mangrove Cuckoo (386. Coccyzns muior). — This rare sum- 

 mer resident of the extreme south is similar to the next, but 

 with the ear coverts black and the under parts a rich buff. 



Length, 12J ; wing, 5i (5-6) ; tail, 7 ; culmen, 1. Florida, Louisiana, 

 and West Indies to northern South America. Maynard's Cuckoo (SSG*. 

 C. m. mayn^rdi) differs from the last in having the lower parts a pale 

 buff instead of ochraceous buff. Dimensions a little less. Bahamas and 

 the Florida Keys. 



4. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (387. Coccffzus americanus). — A 

 common, long, slender, long-tailed, brownish-gray bird, with a 



slender, curved bill and con- 

 spicuously white-tipped outer 

 tail feathers. The under parts 

 are whitish, the wings have 

 much cinnamon color, and the 

 under mandible is yellow at 

 base. This bird destroys great 



numbers of that pest of our 

 Yellow billed Cuckoo . .■■ . . . .,, 



trees, — the tent caterpillar. 



Its notes are a harsh, grating d-uck, d-uck varied by coir, cow. 



(Rain "crow.") 



Length, 12 ; wing, 5| (5i-6) ; tail, 6 ; tarsus, 1 ; culmen, 1. Kastern 

 North America ; breeding from Florida to Canada and Miimesota, and 

 wintering south of the United States to Central America. 



r». Black-billed Cuckoo (388. Coccf/zus erythrophthdlmus). — 

 A bird similar to the last in form, colors, and habits, but with 

 less white and no black on the tail, the under mandible black, 

 and no cinnamon on the wings. The voice is less harsh. 



