352 CUCULIFORMES CHAP. 
or wedge-shaped tail is nearly always long, and has ten feathers, 
except in the Crotophaginae, which have eight ; 1t is forked in two 
species of Surniculus. Diplopterus has the upper coverts half as 
long as the rectrices, Dromococcyx has them of the entire length. 
The impervious nostrils, usually pierced in a swollen membrane, 
are hidden by bristly plumes in Dasylophus and Lepidogrammus. 
The furcula is Y-shaped, the tongue is sagittate with retroverted 
spines on the posterior margin, the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial or 
occasionally bronchial. Distinct eyelashes are often visible, the 
after-shaft is rudimentary or absent, the nestlings are naked, and 
down is only found in adults on the unfeathered spaces. 
The plumage of the more typical Cuckoos is brownish or grey, 
usually with barred under parts, the long flank-feathers cover- 
ing half the metatarsi; Chrysococcyx, however, contains several 
beautiful emerald-green forms ; while Chalcococcya is scarcely less 
brillant ; but Suwrniculus and Cuculus clamosus are black. Cvoto- 
phaga is also black. Coccystes, and several species of Coua, have 
well-developed crests, while Lepidogrammus has a rounded tuft, 
Guira one of long narrow plumes, and Greococcyx mexicanus an 
erectile patch. Fork-tipped feathers on the head and neck are 
not uncommon. The colour of the bill, feet, and iris varies much ; 
the cheeks and orbits are often naked, and may be bright red, 
blue, or greyish, as in the Phoenicophainae and Centropodinae. 
Strong glossy feather-shafts, often with filiform extremities, are 
found in Coua, Taccocua, Phoenicophaés, Rhopodytes and elsewhere, 
on the head, neck, mantle and chest; Crotophaga has stiff, scale- 
like borders, and Lepidogrammus metallic horny tips, to the 
feathers of the first two of these; Dasylophus has fine crimson 
hair-like tufts springing from above each eye. The beak may 
be black, green, yellowish, or even, as in Rhamphococcyxz, chiefly 
red. The sexes are alike in most cases. 
The Ethiopian and Indian Regions are richest in Cuculidae. 
New Zealand possesses only two species ; but Madagascar, besides 
other forms, claims the entire genus Cowa. In all there are more 
than a hundred and sixty species of some forty-two genera. 
Sub-fam. 1. Cuculinae.—Cuculus canorus, the familiar Cuckoo 
of Britain and nearly all the Old World, is greyish-brown above 
and on the throat, the lower parts being white barred with 
dusky, and the wings and tail shewing a few white markings. 
A chestnut-brown or “hepatic” phase is sometimes met with. 
