CUCULIBJE CROTOPHAGINJE : ANIS. 



471 



fonns showing poculiar minor modifications ; these correspond in great measure with certain 

 geographical areas of faunal distril)Htion, and are generally held to constitute subfamilies. 

 Tiiree or four such are con- 

 lined to America; about twice 

 as many belong exclusively to 

 the Old World; among them 

 are the Giicidince, or typical 

 cuckoos allied to the European 

 C. canorus (Hg. 322), famous, 

 like our Cowbird, for their 

 parasitism. This section com- 

 prehends the great majority f)f 

 the Old World species ; the 

 Couinm are a peculiar Mada- 

 gascan type ; others rest upon 

 a special condition of the 

 claws or plumage. There arc 

 about 200 current species of 

 the family. Many of them, 

 besides the one just cited in 

 instance, lay their eggs in 

 other birds' nests. The Amer- 

 ican cuckoos have been de- 

 clared free of suspicion of such 

 domestic irregularities ; but, though pretty well-behaved, their record is not quite clean : they 

 do sometimes slip into the wrong nest. The curious infelicity seems to be connected in some 

 way with the inability of the 9 to complete her clutch of eggs with the rapidity and regularity 

 usual among birds, and so incubate them in one batch. The nests of our species of Coccygus 

 commonly contain young by the time the last egg of the lot is laid. 



We have three very distinct genera, usually referred to as many subfamilies. 



Fig. 322. —European Cuckoo, CuctUus canorus. (From Dixon.) 



Crotophagin/E. Terrestrial. 



Analysis of Subfamilies and Genera. 

 Tail of 8 feathers. Bill compressed, crested. 



Plumage lustrous black 



Crotopkaga 146 



Saurotherin^e. Terrestrial. Tail of 10 feathers. Feet ambulatorial, with long tarsi. . . Gcococcyx 147 



COCCYGIX-E. Arboreal. Tail of 10 feathers. Feet insessorial, with short tarsi Coccygus 148 



36. Subfamily CROTOPHACIN/E: Anis. 



Tail of eight featlicrs, graduated, longer than the rounded wings. Bill exceedingly com- 

 the upper mandible rising into a thin vertical crest, the sides usually sulcate, the tip 

 deflected. Plumage uniform (black), lustrous, the feathers of the head and neck lengthened, 

 lanceolate, distinct, with scale-like margins ; face naked. Terrestrial. Nest in bushes. One 

 genus, of three species, of the warmer parts of America. 

 146. CROTO'PHAGA. (Gr. Kporav, kroton, a bug ; (f)dyos, j)hagos, eating,) Anis. In addition 

 to the characters of the subfiimily : Bill about as long as head, with regularly convex or angu- 

 lated culmen, its sides smooth, wrinkled, or sulcate ; tip of upper mandible decurved over end 

 of lower ; gonys straight. Wings rounded ; 4th or oth primary longest, 1st quite short. Tail- 

 feathers broad, widening to very obtuse ends. Tarsus longer than middle toe, anteriorly 

 broadly scutellate, the sides with large plates meeting in a ridge behind. According to the 

 concurrent testimony of various independent observers, the cuculine irregularity of nesting is 

 expressed in a very curious manner, in the case of C. ani at least ; several birds forming a 



