BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO 23 
beak is black, and the irides blood-red, which 
contrasts well with the blue-grey of the head, giving 
the bird a bold and striking appearance. 
This species is not common, but it is, I believe, 
slowly extending its range southwards, as within the 
last few years it has become much more common 
than formerly. Like other Cuckoos, it is retiring in 
its habits, concealing itself in the dense foliage, and 
it cannot be attracted by an imitation of its call, an 
expedient which never fails with the Coucou. Its 
language has not that deep mysterious or monkish 
quality, as it has been aptly called, of other Coccyzi. 
Its usual song or call, which it repeats at short 
intervals all day long during the love-season, re- 
sembles the song of our little Dove (Columbula picui), 
and is composed of several long monotonous notes, 
loud, rather musical, but not at ail plaintive. It 
also has a loud harsh cry, which one finds it hard 
to believe to be the voice of a Cuckoo, as in character 
itis more like the scream of a Dendrocolaptine species. 
Of the thirty species of Cuckoos inhabiting South 
America eight are found in Argentina. Four of the 
five species described above were known to me; the 
remaining three did not range so far south as Buenos 
Ayres—* my parish of Selborne,” as I have ventured 
to call it in the Naturalist in La Plata—but they are 
such interesting birds that I cannot resist the tempta- 
tion of giving a brief account of their habits in this 
place. 
The Ani, Crotophaga ani, is about the size of our 
Magpie, and is one of the strangest of this strange 
