FAMILY CUCULIDAE IO9 



7. A dull black stripe behind the eye. 



Mangrove cuckoo, Coccysus minor palloris, p. 113 

 Side of head uniform, without black stripe 8 



8. Tail tipped broadly with white ; primaries edged with rufous along centers of 



outer webs ; mandible prominently yellow except for black tip. 



Yellow-billed cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, p. Ill 

 Tail tipped very narrowly with white ; wing plain without rufous band ; man- 

 dible wholly black, or with a faint yellow mark on under side near the base. 

 Black-billed cuckoo, Coccysus crythropthalmus, p. 109 



9. Foreneck and upper breast streaked and spotted with black; rest of lower 



surface white ; upper surface mainly dull black. 



Pheasant cuckoo, Dromococcyx phasianellus rufigularis, p. 136 

 Foreneck and upper breast plain brown, without markings, breast gray, under 



tail coverts dull black 10 



10. Size larger, tail more than 235 mm. 



Squirrel cuckoo, Piaya cayana thermophila, p. 116 

 Much smaller, tail less than 160 mm. 



Dwarf squirrel cuckoo, Piaya minuta panamensis, p. 120 



COCCYZUS ERYTHROPTHALMUS (Wilson): Black-billed 

 Cuckoo, Cuclillo Piquinegro 



Figure 13 



Cuculus erythropthalma Wilson, Amer. Orn., vol. 4, 1811, p. 16, pi. 28, fig. 2. 

 (Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.) 



Lower mandible mainly or wholly black ; tail tipped narrowly with 

 white ; bare skin around eye red in adult. 



Description. — Length 270-290 mm. Adult (sexes alike), above 

 hair brown, glossed faintly with bronze; a faint edging of rufous on 

 primary coverts and inner secondaries ; loral area light gray ; lower 

 surface white, washed faintly with pale buff or pale grayish buff on 

 foreneck, upper breast, and under tail coverts ; tail tipped narrowly 

 with white, with a faint dusky subterminal bar ; under wing coverts 

 pale buff; lower surface of inner webs of primaries pale cinnamon- 

 buff. 



Immature, somewhat browner above ; more buffy below. 



Bill wholly black, or with center of mandible buff to buffy white. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from eastern United States), wing 

 132.5-143.0 (137.8), tail 142.0-155.0 (149.3), oilmen 22.5-26.0 

 (23.7), tarsus 21.0-25.0 (23.5) mm. 



Females (10 from eastern United States), wing 137.0-146.5 

 (141.4), tail 146.5-164.5 (154.7), oilmen 21.5-25.0 (23.4), tarsus 

 21.5-25.5 (23.8) mm. 



Migrant from the north. Rare; found casually. 



