THE BIRDS 



OF 



NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 



By Robert Ridgway, 



Curator, Division of Birds. 



Part VII. 



Order COCCYGIFORMES. 



CTTCKOO-LIKE BIRDS. 



= Coccyges Sclater, Ibis, 1880, 400, in text (restricted to Cuculidse+Musopha- 

 gidse). — FiJRBRiNGER, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1567 ("Gens" of 

 Suborder Coccygiformes). — Seebohm, Classif. Birds, 1900, pp. vii, xi, 10. — 

 Sharpe, Rev. Rec. At. Classif. Birds, 1891, 82; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 152. 



— Cuculoidex Stejneger, Sci. Rec, ii, May 15, 1884, 155; Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 



1885, 371 (Superfamily of "Picariae"). 

 "^Coccygiformes Furbringer, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1567 (Suborder 



of Coracornithes; includes Bucconidse and Galbulidse). 

 "^Cuculiformes Gadow, Bronn's Thier-Reich, Vog., ii, 1893, 212, 300; Classif. 



Vertebr., 1898, pp. xv, 36 (includes Psittaciformes) . — Knowlton, Birds of 



the World, 1909, 50 (includes Psittaciformes). 



— Cuculiformes Pycraft, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1903, pt. 1, 258. 



= Cuculi Gadow, Bronn's Thier-Reich, Vog., ii, 1893, 213, 300; Classif. Vertebr., 

 1898, pp. XV, 36 (Suborder). 



Homalogonatous, desmopelmous, desmognathous zygodactyle 

 birds, with dorsal vertebrae heteroccelous, rostrum fixed (not mov- 

 ably articulated with skuU), biU not hooked nor furnished with cere, 

 feet not prehensile, tarsal envelope scutellate, expansor secundari- 

 orum muscle present, secondaries quin to-cubital, rectrices 8-10, 

 down on apteria only, and young gymnopsedic. 



In the general scheme of classification presented in Part I (p. 11) 

 of this work, the ''Order Cuculiformes" includes the Parrots as well 

 as the Cuckoo-hke birds (Cuculidie and Musophagidae), this being in 

 accordance with the views of Gadow and Garrod. The Parrots are,^ 

 however, so distinct and sharply circumscribed as a group that it 

 seems better to consider them as a separate order, Psittaciformes 

 (immediately following the present group), and segregate the other two 

 1957°— Bull. 50, pt 7—16 1 



