452 CLASS XVI. 



Wirbelthiere, Taf. 4 ; — Schizorkis personata Rueppell, Transact. Zool. 

 Soc. III. PI. 16; — Schizorhis leucogaster Id. ib. PI. 17. — These birds are 

 mostly dull-coloured, grey or broWTi, whilst the species of the two pre- 

 ceding genera display beautiful and lively colours. 



Section II. Coccygince. Bill of various length, often slender, 

 moderately curved, naked at the base, sometimes emarginate towards 

 the tip, with margins elsewhere entire. Gape of mouth large, often 

 produced under the eyes. Tail with a various number of feathers, 

 elongate, often graduated. 



A. Tail with not more tlian ten feathers. 



Crotophaga L. Bill moderate, cultrate, greatly compressed, 

 with culmen acute. Nostrils lateral, placed near the base of bill. 

 Tarsi long, covered with an anterior and posterior roAV of scutes. 

 Tail elongate, graduated, with eight feathers rounded. Wings 

 with first three feathers gradually longer, fourth and fifth longest 

 of all. 



Sp. Crotophaga Ani L., Buff. PI. enl. 102, fig. 1, Less. Ornith. PI. 26, 

 fig. i; — Crotopliaga sulcirostra Swains., Crotophaga Cassaaii Less. Cent. 

 Zool. PI. II. These two species are nearly of the same size, but the last 

 named differs by grooves on the bill. A larger species has the bill longer 

 and less high, with the superior margin erect at the base : Crotophaga 

 major Gm., Buff. PI. enl. 102, fig. i, Cuv. R. Ani., ed. ill., Ois. PI. 53, 

 fig. 2. These birds are one-coloured black with blue reflections, and have 

 a black bill and black legs ; they live together in company, especially in 

 the neighbourhood of meadows, and make large nests in trees and slirubs 

 of sticks and twigs, in which several females brood together. They feed 

 on grasshoppers and other insects and often settle on the back of cattle 

 and horses to seek for parasites. 



Scythrops Lath. Bill long, large, higher than broad, with tip 

 of upper mandible curved, acute, produced beyond the lower. 

 Nostrils placed at the base and towards the margin of bill, half- 

 covered by naked membrane. Tarsi strong, shorter than anterior 

 outer toe. Tail graduated, long. Wings long, with third and 

 fourth quills subequal, the third longest of all. 



Sp. Scythrops novce Hollandice Lath., Scythrops Australiasia; Shaw, White 

 Journal of a Voy. to Neiv South Wales, PI. 5, anomalous hornhill, Temm. 

 PI. col. 290, Less. Ornith. PI. 23, fig. 1, Guer. Iconogr., Ois. PI. 33, 

 fig. 2 ; at New Holland and Celebes ; this bird feeds on insects, and, 

 according to the natives, predicts bad weather by its cry. In the adult 

 bird the ground-colour is grey, on the back and wings blackish, the belly 

 white; the bill is gi-ooved in the length. The young bird has a short 

 and smooth bill and is marked with yellow-brown spots on the wings. 



