THE CUCKOOS 



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<Jround Another subfamily {Neomorphina} is represented by the four genera 



Cuckoos o f g roun( i cuckoos, all of which are terrestrial birds with powerful 



feet for running, and weak wings in which the secondary quills are as long as the 



primaries. In Borneo and 



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 ^ 



Sumatra the pheasant 

 cuckoos (Carpococcyx) rep- 

 resent the group; the spe- 

 cies from the former island 

 being two feet in length, 

 with the aspect and ways 

 of a game bird. In South 

 America the subfamily is 

 represented by the genus 

 Ncomorphus, which extends 

 from Northern Brazil to 

 Guiana, Amazonia, and 

 Equador, thence to Colom- 

 bia and to Nicaragua. All 

 the five species of this 

 .genus are extremely rare, 

 and nothing is known of 

 their habits. In all the 

 genera above mentioned the 

 bill is very stout, but there 

 remain the two American 

 genera 'Geococcyx and Mo- 

 rococcyx, in which it is 

 longer; a familiar example 



of the fomer of these being the so-called road runner 

 ( Geococcyx mexicanus) . In plumage this curious cuckoo 

 has nothing striking to recommend it, being brown with 

 rufous or white streaks; the under surface whitish; 

 and a buff -colored throat, which is also streaked with 

 black. But if its coloration is somewhat sombre, it has 

 some bright color on the face, similar to that of the 

 preceding genera, for the iris is red, and it has a bare 

 space round the eye of a blue color, fading off into white 

 behind, and then followed by a patch of orange red. 

 The length of the bird is about two feet. The road 

 runner is an inhabitant of the Southern United States, 

 from Texas to New Mexico, Southern Colorado, and 

 California. It has obtained its name of the "road 



runner" from the speed with which it flies over the ground, some idea of which 

 may be gained from a statement of Colonel Stevenson, that when in Southern 

 California he saw on two occasions the ranchmen of that part of the country 



GREEN-BITTED MALKOHA. 

 (One-third natural size.) 



