BIRDS OP NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 87 



broad tail there is a superficial resemblance to tbe Sun Bitterns 

 (Eurypyga) and the Sun Grebes (Heliomis). 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OP DROMOCOCCYX. 



a. Rectrices tipped with white and crossed by a subterminal area of blackish; scap- 

 ulars, interscapulars, and wing-coverts margined with paler; pileum more or less 

 rufescent brown, especially posteriorly (on crest). (Adults.) 

 b. Chest (usually more or less of tliroat also) spotted or streaked with dusky on a buff 

 or buffy wliitish ground; wing-coverts, etc., narrowly margined with pale 

 brownish or brownish buffy; blackish subterminal area of rectrices much 

 broader; larger (wing 159-189, tail 193-234). (Southeastern Mexico to Bolivia 



and southwestern Brazil.) Dromococcyx phasianellus, adults (p. 87). 



bb. Chest and throat immaculate light tawny or ocliraceous; wing-coverts, etc., 

 broadly margined with light gray and v/hitish; blackish subterminal areas of 

 rectrices much narrower; smaller (wing 137-139.7, tail 139.7-172.7). (Guianas 

 to Argentina and eastern Peru.) 



Dromococcyx pavoninus, adults (extralimital).^ 

 aa. Rectrices without white tips or blackish subterminal area; scapulars, interscap- 

 ulars, and wing-coverts without paler margins; pileum wholly dark sooty brown. 

 (Young.) 

 b. Throat and chest immaculate light tawny or ochraceous; a conspicuous post- 

 ocular stripe of ochraceous or deep buff; wing-coverts with small terminal spots 



of brownish buffy Dromococcyx phasianellus, young (p. 88). 



bb. Throat and chest immaculate pale grayish; an inconspicuous postocular stripe 

 of pale grayish; wing-coverts with broad mesial streaks of brownish buffy. 



Dromococcyx pavoninus, young (extralimital). 



DROMOCOCCYX PHASIANELLUS (Spix). 



PHEASANT CtTCKOO. 



Adults (sexes alike) . — Pileum deep sooty brown more or less tinged 

 with rusty brown, especially on longer feathers of crest, which is 

 sometimes uniform rufescent brown (burnt umber or Vandyke), the 

 feathers of forehead and crown with more or less distinct mesial 

 streaks of blackish brown; general color of upper parts dark sooty 

 brown, famtly glossed with purplish bronze, the scapulars, inter- 

 scapulars, and smaller lesser wing-coverts margined with pale grayish 

 buffy, these markings broader and often dull whitish on the larger 

 lesser wing-coverts; middle and greater coverts tipped with dull 

 white or dull brownish buffy white; secondaries narrowly and indis- 

 tinctly margined distally with paler brownish, the tip more distinctly 

 margined with dull whitish or pale brownish or buffy ; middle portion 

 of longer primaries margined (at smuations) with dull whitish or pale 



a Dromococcyx pavoninus Pelzeln, Om. Bras., iii Abth., 1870, 270 (Araguay, 

 Engenho do Gama, and Arimani, Brazil; coll. Vienna Mus.; ex Coccyzus pavoninus 

 Natterer, manuscript); Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xix, 1891, 427. — Dromococcyx 

 pavonicus Dabbene, Orn. Argent., 1910, 425 (Parana and Misiones, Argentina). — 

 Dromococcyx gracilis Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., viii, sig. 35, Oct. 26 1885, 559 

 (Demerara, Brit. Guiana; coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.). 



