BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 3 



Siaperfamily CXJCULI. 

 THE CUCKOOS. 



= Cuculi Sharpe, Review Recent At. Classif. Birds, 1891, 82; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 



pp. xiii, 155. 

 "^[Zygodactyli] imherhi Vieillot, Analyse, 1816, 27 (includes Leptosomatidse and 



Indicatoridae). 

 "^Cuculidx Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 96 (includes Indicatoridae). 

 '^Coccyges Shelley, Cat. Birds Br. Mus., xix, 1891, 209 (includes Musophagidse). 



Cuculine birds with the outer (fourth) toe permanently reversed, 

 cgeca present, oil-gland nude, and contour feathers without aftershafts. 



Other anatomical characters may be found mentioned under Order 

 Coccygif ormes ; but as an amplification of those pertaining to the 

 structure of the foot it may be mentioned that the hallux is connected 

 with the flexor longus Jiallucis and not with the flexor perforans digi- 

 torum, which leads to the second, third, and fourth toes. 



Family CUCULIDiE. 



THE CITCKOOS. 



==Cuadinse Nitzsch, Obs. Av. Art. Carot. Com., 1829, 15. 



= Cuculid3e Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 71. — Lilljeborg, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. Lond., 1866, 16.— Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 1872, 188; 2d ed., 

 1884, 470. — Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. Am. Birds, ii, 1874, 

 470. — Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 373. — FUrbringer, Unters. 

 Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1321, 1567.— Sharpe, Hand-list, ii, 1900, 155. 



"^Cuculidx Bonaparte, Prodr. Syst. Om., 1840, 17 (includes Indicatoridae); 

 Consp. Av., i, 1850, 96 (includes Indicatoridae). — Cabanis and Heine, Mus. 

 Hein., iv, Heft 2, 1862, 1 (includes Indicatoridae and Leptosomatidae) . 



<^Cuculidse Reichenow, Vog. Zool. Gart., ii, 1882, vii, (excludes Crotophaginae). 



= CMCMZt American Ornithologists' Union, Check List, 1886, 206. — Seebohm, 

 Classif. Birds, 1890, vii, xi, 12.— Sharpe, Rev. Rec. At. Classif. Birds, 1891, 

 82; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 155.— Beddard, Classif. Birds, 1898, 272. 



The CuculidjB being the only Family contained in the Superfamily 

 Cuculi, it follows that the characters are precisely the same. 



The Cuckoos are long-tailed, mostly arboreal, but sometimes ter- 

 restrial and rasorial, zygodactylous birds having the fourth toe per- 

 manently reversed or directed backward, the tarsi broadly scutellate, 

 the rectrices eight to (usually) ten, the nostrils exposed, the rictal 

 bristles inconspicuous or obsolete. The bill is extremely variable as 

 to size and shape, but is always compressed and more or less decurved 

 at the tip. The young are nidicolous (altricial) and gymnopsedic. 

 The nest (if any) is of very rude construction, and the eggs extremely 

 variable as to coloration and number. Many species are parasitic in 

 their reproduction, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, and 

 allowing their young to be reared by the foster parents, often at the 

 sacrifice of the latter's progeny, who are frequently unceremoniously 

 crowded or thrown from the nest by the interloper. 



The Cuculidse are a very extensive group of nearly world-wide 

 distribution, only the colder regions, where their insect food is want- 



