602 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARI.E — COCCYGES. 



shafts entirely black on top, though yellow in part underneath. General tone of under parts 

 pale grayish-white, without the decided tints of either of the other species, the round black 

 spots large and crowded. Top of head purer and more cinnamon-brown than in C. rnexicanus; 

 more nearly as in C. rufipileus. Small; length ll. 00-12. 00; vA'ing 5.50-6.00; tail about 4.00; 

 bill 1.50 or less. Gradation between this form and C. rnexicanus has not yet been observed, 

 but very likely does occur. Valley of the Gila and Lower Colorado rivers, Arizona, and con- 

 tiguous portions of California, probably also reaching southern Nevada and the S. W. corner 

 of Utah ; Sonora ; Lower California S. of Lat. 30°. Like the Gila species of Centurus, the 

 Gila Flicker ranges in the region of the giant cactus, in which it nests in April, May, and June, 

 laying 5 or fewer eggs, indistinguishable from those of other Flickers. 



C. c. brunnes'cens. (Lat. brownish, growing brown.) Veneered Woodpecker. Quite 

 like C. chrysoides ; upper parts darker ; size slightly smaller. Terminal black of tail one-third 

 its length, its yellow dull waxy contrasting with chrome yellow of the wings underneath ; back 

 bister-brown ; throat dark ash ; cap cintiamon-brown ; ground of lower parts grayish-white, 

 with numerous round and cordate black spots; upper tail-coverts white, with large round black 

 spots. San Fernando, Lower California. Anthony, Auk, Oct. 1895, p. 347; A. 0. U. Suppl. 

 List, Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 120, No. 414 a. 



Suborder COCCYGES : Cuculiform Birds. 



See p. 542 for analytical characters of the suborder, as now restricted to the two families 

 Cuculidce and Miisophagidce. Thus purged of its non-conformable elements, the group may 

 be defined with precision, and must not be mistaken for the heterogeneous Coccygomorphce or 

 Cuculiformes of various writers, and of former editions of the Key. The Coccyges in the strict 

 sense have lately been called Zygodactyli, a term expressive of a principal external character- 

 istic, as the Coccyges are yoke-toed by permanent reversion or versatility of the 4th toe, but 

 one which is not distinctive and therefore ineligible ; for the Woodpeckers and several other 

 families ot Piciform birds share this character. The fundamental feature of Coccyges is the 

 presence of the ambiens muscle, here only among Picarice ; the true Cuculiform birds are 

 therefore homalogonatous, all other Picarians being anomalogonatous. They are furthermore 

 the only ones with an accessory femorocaudal, as throughout the Miisopliagidee and in several 

 l)ut not all the subfamilies of CuculidcB. The flexor longus hallucis supplies the hallux; the 

 flexor digitorum perforans has three tendons for the other three digits. The palate is desmog- 

 nathous, without basipterygoids. The spinal pteryla forks in the scapular region. The two 

 families are readily distinguished by the combination, in MiisophagidcB, of the constant formula 

 AB X Y, tufted oil-gland, no cfeca, aftershafted plumage, versatile 4th digit, and 10 rectrices, 

 as contrasted with the inconstant formula A B X Y or A X Y, nude oil-gland, two caeca, no 

 aftershafts, permanently reversed 4th digit, and 10 or 8 rectrices, in CucuUdce. The former 

 family is exclusively Ethiopian ; the latter is cosmopolitan. 



Family CUCULID^ : Cuckoos. 



Homalogonatous Picarice zygodactylous hy reversion of the fourth toe. The only other 

 North American birds with toes yoked in the same combination are Picidte and Psittaci, whose 

 numerous specialties will prevent any misconception regarding CuculidcB. The latter are 

 desmognathous in palatal structure, and homalogonatous, having the ambiens and three or all 

 four of the other leg-muscles used for classificatory purposes ; in these important respects dif- 

 fering from all birds previously treated in this work. There are two carotids. The syringes 

 vary from tracheobronchial through pseudobronchial to bronchial, paired. The oil-gland is 

 nude, but cjeca are present, and the plumage is not aftershafted. The family is a large and 



