472 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICABIJE — CUCULIFORMES. 



425. 



sort of colony of Communists uniting to build a large nest to be used in common. The eggs 

 are greenish, overlaid with a white chalky substance, easily rubbed oflF when fresh. 

 C. a'ni. (The Brazilian name. Fig. 323.) Ani. Black Witch. Savanna Blackbird. 

 Bill smooth or with a few transverse wrinkles ; culmen regularly curved. Color black, with 

 violet and steel-blue reflections, duller below, the lanceolate feathers of the head and neck 

 Avith bronze borders. Iris brown. Length 13.00-15.00 ; wing 6.00 ; tail 8.00 ; tarsus 1.50. 

 Tropical America ; West Indies ; Florida ; accidental near Philadelphia. 



Fig. 323. — Ani, J nat. size. (From Brehm.) 



436 , C. sulciros'tris. (Lat. sulcus, a groove ; rostris, pertaining to the beak.) Groove-billed 

 Ani. Bill with three distinct grooves on upper mandible, parallel with the regularly curved 

 culmen. Black, with steel-blue and violet reflections, more olive- 

 brown on belly ; scaly feathers of head and neck bronzy, of breast, 

 back and wings metallic greenish. Wings with 4th and 5th 

 quills longest, 3d little shorter, 2d nearly an inch, 1st nearly 2 

 inches from point of wing. Bill more than twice as high as 

 broad at the base ; 0.85 high, 0.37 broad, 1.20 long. BiU and 

 feet black, scaling grayish in some places. Iris brown. Length 

 14.50; extent 17.00; wing 5.50-6.00; tail 7-50-8.00, graduated 2 

 inches ; tarsus, or middle toe and claw, 1.50. Tropical America ; 

 N. to Texas in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Eggs said to be 



„ ., , ,. , „„ usuallv five, and no peculiarity of nestinar noted; nest of twigs, 



Fig. 324. — HeadofGeococcyx. , . ■, , 



(After Cassia.) lined with fibrous roots, m a tree or bush. 



