80 MANUAL 



Sub-family a CROTOPHAGIN^ Anis 



Tail of eight feathers ; bill short, compressed, and high, 

 and altogether marked and peculiar, once seen not easily for- 

 gotten ; nostrils near the centre of the base of the upper man- 

 dible, exposed, oblong, and upper mandible curved down over 

 the under ; wings about the length of the body and slightly 

 concaved ; tail long and graduated ; face naked. 



Genus Crotophaga, (2 species). 



None of these birds are common, though the species are numerous, even 

 in tropical countries where the^' mostly reside. They live on the ground. 



Sub-family /; SAUROTHERIN^ Ground Cuckoos 



Tail often feathers ; bill about equal to the head, still com- 

 pressed and with the upper mandible curving over the under, 

 stout though slender ; rictus with bristles ; tarsus long and 

 toes strong though still small, scutellate (both toes and tar- 

 sus) ; nostrils much less rounded than in a ; wings much as 

 in a though even shorter than the body or not longer, and 

 more concaved ; tail long, narrow, and graduated. This, like 

 the former, is a rare group as well as a peculiar one. Face 

 feathered. 



Genus Geococcyx. 



Sub-family c COCCYGIN^ True Cuckoos 



Tail of ten feathers ; bill a little shorter than the head, 

 stout growing more slender towards the acute tip, curved no- 

 ticeably, and compressed ; nostrils as in a and b but oblong ; 

 face feathered ; tarsus and feet fitted for living among the 

 trees and not on the ground as with a and b, and weak ; wings 

 longer and more pointed than in the other groups (relatively 

 to the size of the body, that is) ; tail long, broad, graduated. 

 Genus Coccygus. 

 Synonym Cuculus. 



Two species of this family, only, are everywhere distrib- 

 uted in North America, at least in the United States, and 

 common ; they are the Black-billed and Yelloic -billed Cuckoo. 



