or ine 
So 
190 CUCULID®, CUCKOOS.—GEN. 128. 
Four or five genera, and perhaps twenty species; none parasitic. Ours are strictly 
arboricole birds of lithe form, blended plumage and subdued colors; the head is 
not crested; the tibial feathers are full, as in a hawk; the sexes are alike, and the 
young scarcely different. In the following, the upper parts are uniform satiny 
olive-gray, or ‘‘ quaker color,’ with bronzy reflections. Migratory, insectivorous ; 
lay plain greenish eggs, in a rude nest of twigs saddled on a branch or in a fork. 
They are well known inhabitants of our streets and parks as well as of woodland, 
noted for their loud jerky cries, which they are supposed to utter most frequently in. 
falling weather, whence their popular name, ‘‘rain crow.” 
128. Genus COCCYZUS Vieillot. 
Black-billed Cuckoo. Bill blackish except occasionally a trace of yellow- 
ish below. Below, pure white, sometimes with a faint tawny tinge on the 
fore parts. Wings with little or no rufous. Lateral tail feathers not con- 
trasting with the central, their tips for a short distance blackish, then 
obscurely white. Bare circumocular space red. Length 11-12; wing 5-53; 
tail 6-64; bill under an inch. Eastern U.S. and Canada. Wuts., iv, 16, pl. , 
28; Nurr., i, 556; Aup., iv, 300, pl. 276; Bpo., 77. ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Bill extensively yellow below and on the sides. 
Below, pure white. Wings extensively cinnamon-rufous on inner webs of 
the quills. Central tail feathers 
like the back, the rest black with 
large white tips, the outermost 
usually also edged with white. Size 
of the last. United States, rather 
more southerly than the last species, 
and chiefly Eastern; also, Pacific 
Coast (Cooper, Nuttall). Wus., 
iv, 13, (pl. 285) Nur.) is oole 
Aup:, iv, 293, 1pl. 275); Bosco 
A Coor., 371... + AMERICANUS: 
FiG. 126. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Mangrove Cuckoo. Bill much as 
in the last. Below, pale orange- 
brown. Auriculars dark, in contrast. Tail as in the last, but outer feathers 
not white-edged. Size of the others, or rather less. West Indies and 
Florida. Nurr., i, 558; Aup., iv, 303; pl. 277; Bp., 78. . SENICULUS. 
Suborder PICT. Piciform Birds. 
See p. 179 for characters of this suborder. 
Family PICIDA:. Woodpeckers. 
These birds have been specially studied, with more or less gratifying success, by 
Malherbe, Sundevall and Cassin. There are nearly two hundred and fifty well 
determined species, of all parts of the world except Madagascar, Australia and 
Polynesia. Their separation into minor groups has not been agreed upon; our 
