THE PLANTAIN EATERS 1775 



largest is Crotophaga major, which is eighteen inches in length, and is found from 

 Brazil and Amazonia to Guiana, and also extends to Colombia. The other species, 

 C. anis and C. sulcirostris, are smaller, not exceeding thirteen inches in length; the 

 anis inhabiting much the same areas as its larger relative, but being found also in 

 the West Indian islands, while it has occurred in the Southern United States. It 

 has a smooth bill, while the latter has several grooves on the side of the bill. It 

 likewise occurs in the Southern United States, and extends throughout Central 

 America to Colombia and Peru, but does not seem to reach Brazil and the other 

 countries of South America. 



The savana cuckoos are gregarious birds, and it will be seen from the notes 

 given below that they nest in company. Senor Alfaro says that in Costa Rica he 

 found the zopilotillo, as it is called, very abundant in the fields near Tambor, 

 a little town about twenty miles northwest of San Jose, where along the hedge- 

 rows and in the scrubby timber they find their insect food, as well as on the hides 

 of the cattle. The wood ticks or ' ' garrapatos, ' ' which are found on the legs and 

 about the head and neck of the cattle, are esteemed above all else a favorite morsel. 

 The bird is also called the tijo-tijo in imitation of its peculiar notes, which seem 

 to repeat the word tee-ho over and over again. He likewise tells of the finding of 

 three nests, one of which was situated in the branches of a mango tree, and con- 

 tained fourteen eggs. Noticing on one occasion one of these birds building its nest, 

 he returned in a week's time, and found, to his surprise, not only the nest com- 

 pleted, but containing six eggs, while in the thorns and leaves about it were scat- 

 tered seven more. He w'rites that " in the finding of some of the eggs scattered in 

 the leaves was revealed one of the architect's peculiarities. A hole had been left 

 in the centre of the nest, and only recently filled with leaves, whose fresh green 

 color testified that they had been cut and placed there later than the others, form- 

 ing the carpeting to the bottom of this common incubator. The eggs were all 

 fresh, the six occupying the nest having the characteristic white calcareous surface 

 perfectly clean, and without the slightest variation in color. Not so with the eggs 

 found about the outside of the nest: those found in contact with the leaves had 

 taken on a dirty yellowish tinge, while those suspended among the leaves and 

 thorns showed various spots and lines of the lustrous blue color forming the base for 

 the chalky external coat. ' ' 



THE PLANTAIN EATERS 

 Family MUSOPHAGID^E 



Having many characteristics in common with the cuckoos, the plantain eaters, 

 or touracos, of Africa, are regarded as indicating a separate suborder, distinguished 

 by having the oil gland tufted and after shafts to the body feathers, while the feet 

 are not wholly zygodactyle, the fourth toe being capable of being turned either 

 backward or forward. The tail feathers are ten in number. Twenty-five species 

 are known, which may be divided into two sections, one including those which have 

 crimson quills, and the other those in which there is no red in the wings. 



