425. 
426. 
472 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICARLA — CUCULIFORMES. 
sort of colony of Communists uniting to build a large nest to be used in common. The eges 
are greenish, overlaid with a white chalky subsite, easily rubbed off when fresh. r 
C. a/ni. (The Brazilian name. Fig. 323.) Ant. Buack Witcu. SAVANNA BLACKBIRD. 
Bill smooth or with a few transverse wrinkles ; culmen regularly eurved. Color black, with 
violet and steel-blue reflections, duller below, the lanceolate feathers of the head and neck 
with bronze borders. Iris brown. Length 13.00-15.00; wing 6.00; tail 8.00; tarsus 1.50. 
Tropical America; West Indies; Florida; accidental near Philadelphia. ; 
{ie (D = =a 
eee 
a/ 
FiG. 323.— Ani, } nat. size. (From Brehm.) 
C. sulciros'tris. (Lat. sulcus, a groove; rostris, pertaining to the beak.) GRoovn-BILLED 
Ant. Bill with three distinct grooves on upper mandible, parallel with the regularly curved 
culmen. Black, with steel-blue and violet reflections, more olive- 
brown on belly ; scaly feathers of head and neck bronzy, of breast, 
back and wings metallic greenish. Wings with 4th and 5th 
quills longest, 3d little shorter, 2d nearly an inch, Ist nearly 2 
inches from point of wing. Bill more than twice as high as 
broad at the base; 0.85 high, 0.37 broad, 1.20 long. Bill and 
feet black, scaling grayish in some places. Iris brown. Length 
14.50; extent 17.00; wing 5.50-6.00; tail 7.50-8.00, graduated 2 
inches; tarsus, or middle toe and claw, 1.50. Tropical Aimerica ; 
N. to Texas in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Eggs said to be 
usually five, and no peculiarity of nesting noted; nest of twigs, 
F 1G, 324.— Head of Geococcyx. ., F 5 5 
(After Cassin.) lined with fibrous roots, in a tree or bush. 
