16 BIRDS OF ZA PLATA 
it is not yet quite in harmony with its environment. 
Everywhere its habit is to feed exclusively on the 
ground, in spite of possessing feet formed for climb- 
ing; but its very scanty plumage, slow laborious 
flight, and long square tail, so unsuitable in cold 
boisterous weather, show that the species is a still 
unmodified intruder from the region of perpetual 
summer many degrees nearer to the equator. 
The Guira Cuckoo is about sixteen inches long, 
has red eyes and blue feet, and an orange-red beak. 
The crown of the head is deep rufous, and the loose 
hair-like feathers are lengthened into a pointed crest. 
The back and rump are white, the wings and other 
upper parts very deep fuscous, marked with white 
and pale brown. Under surface dull white, with 
hair-like black marks on the throat and breast. The 
tail is square, nine to ten inches long; the two middle 
feathers dark brown, the others three-coloured— 
yellow at the base, the middle portion dark glossy 
green, the ends white; and when the bird is flying 
the tail, spread out like a fan, forms a conspicuous 
and beautiful object. 
During the inclement winter of Buenos Ayres the 
Guira Cuckoo is a miserable bird, and appears to 
suffer more than any other creature from cold. In 
the evening the flock, usually composed of from a 
dozen to twenty individuals, gathers on the thick 
horizontal branch of a tree sheltered from the wind, 
the birds crowding close together for warmth, and 
some of them roosting perched on the backs of their 
fellows. I have frequently seen them roosting three 
