DlRECTOlir TO BIRDS OF EASTKKK NORTH AMERICA. 175 



a. Black Cuckoos. Crotophaga. 



Characters as above. 



1. ANI, C. ANi. 14.00; feathers of head and neck mar- 

 gined with a bronzy iridescence. West Indies, Bahamas, and 

 eastern S. A., casual in southern Fla, and La. ; accidental in 

 Penn. Cries, loud and in a minor tone. Flight, heavy and 

 jay-like. Social at all times, several females placing their 

 eggs in one nest, probably polygamous. 



B. AMERICAN CUCKOOS. Coccyziclae. 



Slender cuckoos with long, graduated tails and smootln 

 plumage; space around eye, naked. 



a. Brown-Backed Cuckoos. Coccyzus. 



Brown above, white beneath with more or less white on 

 tip of tail. Nests, in bushes; eggs, blue, unspotted and de- 

 posited irregularly. Feathers of tibia elongated. Flight,, 

 steady and direct with rather rapid wing-beats, suggesting a 

 pigeon. 



1. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, C. americanus. 

 12.00; tail, dark, outer Fig. 217. 



feathers, broadly tipped 

 with white; wing, 

 strongly tinged with cin- 

 namon ; under mandible, 

 yellow; space around 

 eye, dark, fig. 2 17. 

 Breeds in eastern tem- 

 perate N. A. west tothe 

 plains in May ; winters 

 in Costa Rica ; migrates 

 in May and Sep. Notes, 

 ' ' Co-iv-co-co7v-co" rath er 

 brokenly given in a de- 

 cidedly minor tone. 

 Common most seasons. T^, B, a, 1. 1-4. 



