on the Head of Gcococcyx californicus, 287 



from this that I feel justified in making an accurate drawing 

 of the head of a fine specimen of the Ground-Cuckoo, pre- 

 sumably a male, which was presented me in the flesh a few 

 days ago. This drawing I here present to my ornithological 

 friends who may not have been so fortunate as to have had 

 the opportunity of examining Geococcyw as I had, and ob- 

 serving the interesting state of affairs which I will now 

 describe. 



The hindmost feathers which go towards the formation 

 of the crest of this Cuckoo are of a deep prussian blue 

 colour, quite black in some lights, being untipped by bright 

 ochre, as the anterior ones are. Just behind the crest proper 

 occur the ochre-and- white-tipped feathers that are the con- 

 tinuation of the feather-tracts that pass over the eye. Below 

 these, again, we find a median tract of feathers, a little more 

 than a centimetre long and only five millimetres wide, ex- 

 tending down towards the nuchal region. On either side of 

 this latter tract, overlying the 'parietal region of the skull, 

 we discover a naked-skin area, about three fourths the size 

 of a shilling, and of a deep, though very bright, orange- 

 colour. These orange-coloured spaces are really on the back 

 of the head, being simply separated from each other by the 

 aforesaid narrow median line of feathers. When the bird 

 becomes excited and elevates its crest and the feathers be- 

 hind the head, then upon lateral view this orange space will 

 show as I have depicted it in my drawing. Its rounded 

 posterior outline is the same as the outline of the smooth 

 posterior surface of the skull, as already stated, it being its 

 sole covering in this region. In life the eye of Geococcyx 

 is entirely surrounded by a naked area of skin, whieb both 

 above and anteriorly is coloured a deep prussian-blue tint. 

 Beneath the eye this gradually passes into a pale bluish 

 white, almost quite white in some lights. The naked space 

 behind the eye is the most extensive of all. Posteriorly this 

 merges into the orange of the parietal skin-tract described 

 above, while anteriorly it blends with the other colour just 

 mentioned. It is divided into three fairly distinct horizontal 

 bands of colour, the upper and lower being dark prussian 



