3IO BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULLETIN 2. 6. 



I am now able to add to the list C. euleri — very distinct from C. ameri- 

 canus, but sometimes confused with that species. 



The species of Piaya and of Crotophaga and Tapcra nacvia are, I 

 believe, resident in all localities where found, while the species of Coc- 

 cyzus are transient, or at best, not permanent residents in the Orinoco 

 region and ark known collectively as Crecienteros, a vernacular name 

 alluding to the fact that they appear at the season of the annual rise of 

 the Orinoco. 



Key to the Genera, Species and Subspecies of Cuculidae. 



a. Maxilla very deep, much compressed; general color of plumage above 

 and below black. 

 b. Sidesof maxilla smooth with neither longitudinal grooves nor ridges . Crotophaga ani. 

 b'. Sides of maxilla ridged or grooved longitudinally. 



c. Larger, wing more than 17 cm.; upper parts of body glossed with 



iridescent steel blue Crotophaga major. 



c'. Smaller, wing less than 17 cm.; body glossed with iridescent 



purplish Crotophaga sulciroslris. 



a'. Maxilla not abnormally deep and compressed, and general color of 

 plumage not black. 

 6. General color of upper-parts red-brown. 



c. Top of head grey, in sharp contrast with red-brown back Piaya melanogastra. 



c' , Head not grey, nearly uniform with back. 



d. Smaller, total length less than 30 cm Piaya rulila orinocensis. 



d'. Larger, total length more than 30 cm. 



e. Outer webs of second and third pairs of rectrices largely rufous 

 (except for the blackish subapical band, about 25 mm. in 



width) Piaya cayana insulana. 



e'. Outer webs of second and third pairs of rectrices not rufous. 

 /. Tail-feathers underneath nearly uniform blackish, with little 

 or no trace of rusty shading, and blackish subterminal band 



almost obsolete Piaya cayana cayana. 



/'. Tail underneath blackish but with a distinct rusty shading. 



and narrow subapical band about 10 mm. in width Piaya cayana columbiana. 



b'. General color of upper-parts not red-brown. 



c. Very large, tail more than 20 cm.; none of the rectrices white 

 tipped. 

 d. Chin and upper throat dusky brownish, merging into black on 



lower throat ; breast and belly dusky mouse-gray Neomorphus nigrogularis. 



d'. Chin and upper throat smoke-gray, followed by a band across 

 the lower throat and neck where the feathers have black tips 

 (narrow anteriorly but occupying half or more of feather posteri- 

 orly) ; breast and belly drab gray ; under tail-coverts dusky brown Neomorphus rufipennis. 

 c'. Smaller, tail less than 20 cm.; rectrices (except intermediae) white 

 tipped. 



d. Crested ; upper-parts more or less streaked with blackish Tapera naevia. 



d'. Not crested, and upper-parts not streaked. 



e. Chin and throat hazel brown, in sharp contrast with remaining 



lower parts Micrococcyx pumilus. 



e'. Color of chin and throat not in sharp contrast with remaining 

 lower parts. 

 /. Mandible black; lower parts strongly suffused with buff... . Coccyzus melacoryphus. 

 /'. Mandible yellowish or orange with blackish tip; under parts 

 not strongly buff. 

 g. Much rufous on both outer and inner webs of inner 



primaries Coccyzus americanus. 



g'. Without rufous on wing quills Coccyzus etderi. 



Coccyzus americanus (Linnaeus). 

 Cucitlus americanus L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1758. p. m. 

 Coccyzus americanus Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 96. 



Two of the cuckoos sent to the Tring Museum were identified by 

 Messrs. Berlepsch and Hartert, as C. americanus ; one, a female, was 



