12 PICARIAN BIRDS. 



genera, for the iris is red, and it has a bare space round the eye of a blue colour, 

 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 state- 

 ment of Colonel Stevenson, that when in Southern California he saw on two 

 occasions the ranchmen of that part of the country chase one of these birds on 

 horseback for a distance of a mile or more at full speed, when the cuckoo, though 

 still in advance, would suddenly stop and fly lip among the upper-limbs of some 

 stunted tree or bush near the roadside, and the rider having kept the bird in view 

 all the way would dismount and easily take the exhausted bird from its perch alive. 

 Savana and The last subfamily of the cuckoos is represented by the so-called 



Guira Cuckoos. sa vana and guira cuckoos, three of which belong to one genus, while 

 the fourth constitutes a genus apart. Distinguished from all other cuckoos by 

 having only eight tail-feathers, these birds are further remarkable for their eggs. 

 Externally these eggs are blue, covered with chalky white scratches, produced by 

 contact with the lining of the nest ; and it appears that this blue colour belongs only 

 to the outer covering, so that when this is removed the true egg-shell, which is 

 white, is revealed. The guira cuckoo (Guira) has a very slender beak, and a crest ; 

 the plumage being brown streaked with black, the under surface buff, and the 

 back white ; while the length of the bird is about 18 inches. It inhabits Brazil 

 and Paraguay. The members of the other genus are black, and have an 

 extraordinary bill with a kind of high and narrow keel on the upper mandible, 

 looking as if it had a ridge along it. Of the three species, the largest is Crotophaga 

 major, which is 18 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 13 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 also 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 north-west of San Jose, where along the 

 hedgerows 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 

 favourite 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 contained 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 completed but containing six eggs, while in the thorns and leaves 



