46, 
CUCULIDZ CROTOPHAGINZ:: ANIS. 471 
forms showing peculiar minor modifications ; these correspond in great measure with certain 
geographical areas of faunal distribution, and are generally held to constitute subfamilies. 
Three or four such are con- 
fined to Ainerica; about twice 
as many belong exclusively to 
the Old World; among them 
are the Cuculing, or typical 
cuckoos allied to the European 
C. canorus (fie. 322), famous, 
s 
like our Cowbird, for their 
parasitism. This section com- 
prehends the great majority of 
the Old World species; the 
Couine are a peculiar Mada- 
gascan type ; others rest upou 
a special condition of the 
claws or plumage. There are 
about 200 current species of 
the family. Many of them, 
besides the one just cited in 
instance, lay their eggs in 
of 
other birds’ nests. The Amer- 
jean euckoos have been de- 
Fic. 322. — European Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus. (From Dixon.) 
clared free of suspicion of such 
domestic irregularities ; but, thodgh pretty well-behaved, their record is not quite clean: they 
do sometimes slip into the wrong nest. The curious infelicity seems to be connected in some 
way with the inability of the 2 to complete her elutch of eggs with the rapidity and regularity 
usual among birds, and so incubate them in one batch. The nests of our species of Coccygus 
commonly contain young by the time the last egg of the lot is laid. 
We have three very distinct genera, usually referred to as many subfamilies. 
Analysis of Subfamilies and Genera. 
CROTOPHAGIN®”. Terrestrial. Tail of 8 feathers. Bill compressed, crested. Plumage lustrous black 
Crotophaga 146 
SAUROTHERIN. Terrestrial. Tail of 10 feathers. Feet ambulatorial, with long tarsi. . . Geococcyx 147 
CoccyGiIn. Arboreal. Tail of 10 feathers. Feet insessorial, with short tarsi. . . . . . Coecygus 1A8 
36. Subfamily CROTOPHACINA: Anis. 
Tail of eight feathers, graduated, longer than the rounded wings. Bill exceedingly com- 
pressed, the upper mandible rising into a thin vertical crest, the sides usually suleate, the tip 
deflected. Plumage uniform (black), lustrous, the feathers of the head and neck lengthened, 
lanceolate, distinct, with scale-like margins; face naked. Terrestrial. Nest in bushes. One 
genus, of three species, of the warmer parts of America. 
CROTO/PHAGA. (Gr. kpordv, kroton, a bug; pdyos, phagos, eating.) Ants. In addition 
to the characters of the subfamily: Bill about as long as head, with regularly convex or angu- 
lated culmen, its sides smooth, wrinkled, or suleate ; tip of upper mandible decurved over end 
of lower; gonys straight. Wings rounded; 4th or 5th primary longest, Ist quite short. Tail- 
feathers broad, widening to very obtuse ends. Tarsus longer than middle toe, anteriorly 
broadly scutellate, the sides with large plates meeting in a ridge behind. According to the 
concurrent testimony of various independent observers, the cuculine irregularity of nesting 
expressed in a very curious manner, in the case of C. ani at least; several birds forming @ 
Ss 
