604 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARIjE — COCCYGES. 



Subfamily CROTOPHACIN/E : Anis; Cuiras. 



Syringes bronchial. Myological formula including an accessory fenioroeaudal. Ventral 

 pteryla forked on each side. Tail of eiriht ftiathers, graduated, longer than rounded wings. 

 Bill and externals of plumage differing in the two genera, Crotophaga and Guira, of which this 

 small American subfamily is composed. 



CKOTO'PHAGA. (Gr. Kporwv, kroton, a bug; (pdyos, phagos, eating.) Anis. Bill about 

 as long as head, extremely compressed, cultrate with regularly convex or angulated culmen 

 rising into a thin vertical crest, its sides smooth, wrinkled, or sulcate; tip of upper mandible 

 decurved over end of lower; gonys straight. Wings rounded; 4th or .5th 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. Plu- 

 mage uniform (black), lustrous; feathers of head and neck length- 

 ened, lanceolate, distinct, with scale-like margins ; face naked. 

 Terrestrial. Nest in trees and buslies. According to the concur- 

 rent testimony of various independent observers, the cuculine irreg- 

 ularity of nesting is expressed 

 in a very curious manner, in 

 the case of C. ani at least ; sev- 

 eral birds forming a sort of 

 colony of Communists uniting 

 to build a large nest to be 

 used in common. The indefi- 



nitely numerous eggs are greenish-blue, overlaid with a white 



chalky substance, easily rubbed off when fresh. 



C. a'ni. (The Brazilian name. Fig. 415.) Ani. Black 



Witch. Tick-bird. Savanna Blackbikd. Bill smooth or 



with a few transverse wrinkles ; culmen regularly curved. Adult 



$ 9 '■ Black, with violet and steel-blue reflections, duller below ; 



lanceolate feathers of head and neck with bronze borders. Iris 



brown. Length 13.00-15.00 ; wing 6.00 ; tail 8.00 ; tarsus 1.50. 



Young simply dull blackish. Eggs very variable in size and shape, about 1.35 X 1-00. 



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



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



Ani. Jew-bird. Bill with 3 distinct grooves on upper mandible, parallel with the regularly 



curved culmen. Adult ^ 9 '■ 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. Bill and feet black, scaling grayish in some places. Iris brown. Length 14.50 ; 



Fig. 415. —Ani, 

 (From Brehm.) 



