396 TROPICAL AMERICA AND ITS ANIMALS 



further characterised by the bare oil-gland and the presence of six pairs of tail- 

 feathers. 



These birds are essentially arboreal in their habits, generally perching on 

 the topmost or outermost branches of the trees they frequent, and usually selecting 

 those devoid of leaves, in order that they may dart without impediment on their 

 insect prey. They are usually found solitary or in pairs, and appear to be 

 sluggish and stupid in demeanour. Those species of which the breeding habits 

 are known nest in holes in mud-banks, where they lay white eggs. 



As already mentioned, puff-birds are connected with cuckoos by 

 the swallow-winged Chelidoptera. The cuckoos themselves are repre- 

 sented in the South American region by the two rain-cuckoos, which live on the 

 ground and run so quickly that a horse can scarcely overtake them. The typical 

 species is the Mexican road-runner (Geococcyx mexicanus), a bird about as large as 

 a magpie, blackish brown above and white below. The double-tailed cuckoos are 

 considerably smaller, and remarkable for their long upper tail-coverts, which more 

 or less resemble the feathers of the tail. One kind, the lark -cuckoo (Diplopterus 

 ncevius), derives its name from its lark-like plumage, and is the only member of its 

 genus ; the allied Dromococcyx being represented by two species. The savana 

 cuckoos, which are confined to the American tropics, differ from other members of 

 the family in that they inhabit open country and pastures, where they peck the 

 ticks from the backs of cattle, and also feed on small vertebrates. Their bluish 

 green eggs, covered, sometimes completely and sometimes in a net-like way, with 

 white chalk, resemble those of other cuckoos. Several females use one large nest, 

 and incubate in company. The ani (Crotophaga ani), one of these birds, ranges 

 from Peru and Colombia, into the south of the United States and the West Indies. 

 Another, the guira cuckoo (Guira cristata), has a pointed crest on the head, and is 

 like a partridge in colour. The last-named bird is the sole representative of its 

 genus ; but there are two species of Crotophaga in addition to the ani, namely, 

 C. major, ranging from Colombia and Ecuador to Brazil, and C. salcirostris, with 

 a distribution extending from Texas and Ecuador to Peru. Crotophaga and Guira 

 represent by themselves one subfamily (Crotophagince), and Diplopterus and Dromo- 

 coccyx a second (Diplopterince) ; each of these groups being thus characteristic of 

 tropical America. A third subfamily group, Neomorphino3, is, however, only in part 

 tropical American, where it is represented by the genera Neomorphus, Geococcyx (with 

 two species, of which G. mexicanus ranges from Mexico to California and Texas, 

 and G. affinus from Mexico to Guatemala), and Morococcyx, with a single Central 

 American species. The remaining genus is restricted to tropical eastern Asia. 



Of the third subfamily of cuckoos, the Phoznicophaince, the majority of the 

 genera are also found in tropical Asia, but there is one genus, Piaya, in tropical 

 America, where it ranges from Mexico to Brazil, while there are two others in the 

 West Indies. In the more tropical cuckoos constituting the subfamily Guculino3 

 the genus Coccyzus is wholly New World, and includes a considerable number 

 of tropical American species. 



The tropical American area is very rich in parrots of peculiar 



generic types, the largest and most gorgeous being the macaws. Most 



of the smaller sharp-tailed species belong to the genus Conurus, but the MexicaD 



