THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 83 



FAMILY CUCULID^. THE CUCKOOS. 

 COCCYGUS, VIEILLOT. 



Coccyzus, Vieillot. Analyse (1816). 



Erythrophrys, Swainson. Class. Birds, II. (1837), 322. 



Head without crest; feathers about base of bill soft; bill nearly as long as the 

 Lead, decurved, slender, and attenuated towards the end; nostrils linear; wings 

 lengthened, reaching the middle of the tail; the tertials short; tail of ten graduated 

 feathers ; feet weak ; tarsi shorter than the middle toe. 



The species of Coccygm are readily distinguished from those of Geococcyx by 

 their arborial habits, confining themselves mainly to trees, instead of living habitu- 

 ally on the ground. The plumage is soft, fine, and compact. 



The American cuckoos differ from the European cuckoos ( Cuculus) by having 

 lengthened naked tarsi, instead of very short feathered ones; the nostrils are 

 elongated, too, instead of rounded. 



COCCYGUS AMERICANUS. Bonaparte. 

 ~X The Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



Cuculus Americanus, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766). 



Coccyzus Americanus, Audubon. Orn. Biog., I. (1832). Bonap. Syn., 42. 



Cuculus Carolinensis. Wilson, 267. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Upper mandible, and tip of lower black ; rest of lower mandible, and cutting 

 edges of the upper yellow ; upper parts of a metallic greenish-olive, slightly tinged 

 with ash towards the bill; beneath white; tail feathers (except the median, which 

 are like the back) black, tipped with white for about an inch on the outer feathers, 

 the external one with the outer edge almost entirely white ; quills orange-cinnamon ; 

 the terminal portion and a gloss on the outer webs olive ; iris brown. 



Length, twelve inches; wing, five and ninety-five one-hundredths ; tail, six and 

 thirty-five one-hundredths. 



THIS bird is very irregularly distributed through New 

 England as a summer visitor. A. E. Verrill, in his 

 catalogue of birds found at Norway, Me., says that "it 

 is not common as a summer visitor." George A. Board- 

 man writes me, that, near Calais, Me., it is " extremely 

 rare." J. A. Allen, in his paper on Springfield birds 

 (before referred to), calls it " extremely rare." Dr. Wood 

 says it is " very rare " at East -Windsor Hill, Conn., where 



