224: CUCKOOS. 



leisure. The loud rolling call was apparently uttered only when on 

 the wing, but when at rest, or feeding, there was a low conversational 

 murmur of half-articulate, querulous notes and calls. 



Of their roosting habits I can say little or nothing. Late one 

 morning (March 15th) we found a flock of eight birds resting on a tall, 

 dead cypress near the center of the " hummock " on the river's bank. 

 On a previous expedition my guide had observed them in this same 

 tree, which was evidently a favorite midday haunt, and it is not impos- 

 sible they may have roosted in the hole we discovered near its top. 



ORDER COCCYGES. CUCKOOS, KINGFISHERS, ETC. 



Family Cuculid^. Cuckoos, Anis, Etc. 



Only thirty-five of the some one hundred and seventy-five known 

 species of Cuckoos are found in the New World, and they are largely 

 confined to the tropics. 



Cuckoos as a rule are rather solitary birds inhabiting wooded areas. 

 The Anis, however, are always gregarious and live in open places. 

 Their flight is weak, generally from tree to tree, and their feet are 

 largely used as a means of progression. Some species hop, others 

 walk, and one is celebrated for his speed as a runner. They are pos- 

 sessed of peculiar vocal powers, and their strange calls are frequently 

 the origin of their popular names. Many species are remarkable for 

 the irregularity of their breeding habits. The Old-World Cuckoo {Cn- 

 culus canorus), like our Cowbird, deposits its eggs in the nests of other 

 birds, and leaves to them the duties of incubation and rearing of the 

 young. The Anis are communistic, and build but one nest, in which 

 several females lay and share the task of incubation. The smaller 

 species are insectivorous, but the larger ones add small reptiles and 

 batrachians to their fare. 



386. Coccyzus minor (GmeL). Mangrove Cuckoo. Ad. — Upper 

 parts brownish gray, grayer on the head, with glossy reflections ; wings and 

 middle pair of tail-feathers like the back ; outer tail-feathers black, broadly 

 tipped with white; ear-coverts blacJc^ bill black, the lower mandible yellow 

 except at the tip; under parts ochraceous-buff. L.. 12'50; W., 5*40 ; T., 6-50; 

 B. from N., -80. 



Range. — Greater Antilles, west coast of Central America, northward to 

 coast of Gulf States (?) ; west coast of Florida. 



Nest.^ a platform of sticks, in low trees and bushes. Eggs., three to four 

 greenish blue. 



This bird is apparently a rare summer resident on the Gulf coast 

 of Florida, but its relationships in this region to the following race 

 are not known. 



