184 YELLOW-BILLED COUCAL. 



true cuckoos, the only parasitic birds, save one *, in 

 creation, deposit their eggs in the nests of strangers, 

 but build one of their own, hatching their eggs, and 

 rearing their young, with the same parental care as 

 all other birds. The Coucals are a numerous divi- 

 sion, but the whole are inhabitants of hot latitudes : 

 those found in America constitute the genus Coc- 

 cyzus as we now propose to restrict it, while those 

 of India and Africa we place under the new sub- 

 genus of Leptourus ; the species are at once dis- 

 tinguished by the great dilation of the base of the 

 upper mandible, which is not only wider than that 

 of the lower, but folds over in such a way as entirely 

 to conceal its basal margin. We shall now describe 

 a typical example of this form, another will be found 

 in the Phcenicophceus Javanicus of Dr Horsfield, 

 and several more are scattered in the artificial divi- 

 sions recently proposed by certain French writers. 



The colouring of this bird although very rich^ is 

 very simple ; the bill is entirely of a fine yellow co- 

 lour, excepting a small spot of what, in the dead 

 bird, appears to be black, placed at the base of the 

 culmen, and which covers the nostrils ; the orbits, 

 which are naked, appear also black. The upper 

 part of the head and neck is of a dark blackish grey, 

 which changes in a very gradual manner to a deep 

 blackish purple, and this colour becomes brightest 

 on the tail and its covers, which reflect glosses 



of purple-violet and lilac; this latter reflection is 



. 



* The Molothrus pecoris, Swains, or Cow Bunting of Wil- 

 son's American Ornithology. 



