CUCULIDjE — SA UB0THERIN2E : GROUND CUCKOOS. 



473 



147. 



37. Subfamily SAUROTHERIN^ : Ground Cuckoos. 



Tail of ten feathers, graduated, louger thau the short, ruuuded, coucave wings. Bill about 

 as lono- as the head, compressed, straight at base, tapering, with deflected tip, gently curved 

 eiiliiien and ample rictus. Feet large and strong, in adai)tation to terrestrial life ; tarsus longer 

 than the toes, scutellate before and behind. One West Indian genus, Saurothera, with three 

 or four species, and the following, with two: — 

 GEOCOC'CYX. (Gr. y^, ge, the ground ; kokkv^, koJcJciix, a cuckoo.) Groukd Cuckoos. 



Fig. 325. — Ground Cuckoo, J nat. size. (From Brehm.) 

 Head crested ; most feathers of head and neck bristle-tipped ; eyelids lashed ; whole plumage 

 coarse. A bare colored space around eye. Bill about as long as head, nearly straight, but with 

 culmen and commissure much decurved toward end, gonys if anything a little coucave. Wings 

 very short and concavo-convex, with long inner secondaries folding entirely over the primaries; 

 4th, 5th, and succeeding primaries longer thau 3d, 2d, and 1st, whicli rapidly shorten. Tail of 

 long tapering feathers, much graduated, making more than half the total length of the bird. 

 Feet as above. Plumage lustrous and variegated above. Sexes substantially alike. Eminently 

 terrestrial ; nest in bushes ; eggs numerous. 



