CUCULID.E. 319 



This family is divided into : 1st, the Cuculin(e or true, or parasitic, 

 Cuckoos ; all of which deposit their eggs in tlie nests of other birds, 

 and are exclusively from the Old World. 



2ndly. — -PhcenicophaincB, or Malkohas ; chiefly an Eastern group, 

 but some found in Africa, and others through the isles to Australia 

 as {Scythrops). They are mostly strong-billed, rather gay-colored, 

 birds, very often with the bill coloured green, yellow, or red ; 

 they live on insects, and make their own nests. Scythrops 

 however is parasitic. 



3rdly. — The Centropodince, or Coucals, feed mostly on the ground, 

 on which they walk well and even run ; being also a group con- 

 fined to the Old World. 



4thly. — Coccyyince, or American Cuckoos. This is a group of 

 varied structure as regards the bill, which is long in some (^the 

 SaurotherincB, of Gray, or Ground Cuckoo of America, whose habits 

 closely resemble those of our Centropodin(B) ; short and tliick in 

 others, as in Coccyzus, the best known of which, C. Americanus, 

 has been occasionally killed in Britain. 



Lastly, Crotophagince, or the Anis of S. America and the West 

 Indies, by some erroneously classed with the Eastern Pha- 

 nicophaincE ; being not far removed from the Centropodine group. 

 These birds have rather a short, compressed, deep curved bill, 

 short wings, long tarsi, and long graduated tail, with only eight 

 feathers. They associate in flooks, breeding (it is alleged) in the 

 same nest, or group of nests ; and live on grasshoppers and other 

 insects. The culraen is high, and forms an elevated ridge or keel, 

 which divides the frontal feathers, as in some of the smaller 

 Hornbills ; and Swainson calls them the Hornbill- Cuckoos. Their 

 colour is umformly black ; and their eggs are dark green, but with a 

 white external coating. Their appellation of Crotophagus is stated by 

 Macleay to be a misnomer, as they do not pick the ticks from cattle ; 

 certain species of Grackle, which have this habit, having doubtless 

 been mistaken for them. ' 



Sub-fam. CucuLiNuE, Swains. 



Bill slender, somewhat broad at the base, convex above, gently 

 curved at the culmcn; nostrils round, membranous; wings pointed; 



