CUCKOOS. 381 



which to deposit her eggs? If so, the foster-parents would hardly be undeceived even 

 when the bird has arrived at maturity. One day, in Upper Burmah, I saw a king- 

 crow pursuing what at first I believed to be another of his own species ; but a peculiar 

 call that the pursued bird was uttering, and some white in its plumage, which I observed 

 as it passed close to me, led me to suppose that it was a drongo-cuckoo, which had, per- 

 haps, been detected (this being the breeding season) about the nest of the Dicrurus. 

 Mr. Blyth relates that he obtained a pure white egg in the same nest with four eggs of 

 J). macrocercus, and which, he remarks, may have been that of the drongo-cuckoo." 



The tropical regions of the Old World abound in several large, long-tailed, rather 

 high-legged cuckoos, with strong bills, some of which remind us of those of the 

 smaller toucans. They have a muscular formula of ABXY-f , and are generally 

 called ground-cuckoos, on account of their habits. Several are said to mimic pheas- 

 ants in appearance and gait, a similarity which is increased by the large red, naked 

 skin surrounding the eyes of many species, peculiarities which find expression in 

 several of the popular names, as, for instance, crow-pheasant for the common coucal 

 (Centropus rufipennis). This latter belongs to a group which is characterized by the 

 straight and lengthened claw of the first toe, resembling much that of a lark, whence 

 they have been called ' lark-heel cuckoos.' 



The species constituting the genus Lepidogrammus, residing in the Philippine 

 Islands, is remarkable, above all the others, for its rounded crest and the black, 

 horny appendages to the feathers of the head and throat. 



Not very distantly related to the Indo-African ground-cuckoos are those of our 

 hemisphere represented by the curious 'road-runner' (Geococcyx calif ornianus). 

 From the accompanying illustration it will be seen that this form also has the skin 

 surrounding the eye, and a large space behind it, denuded of feathers. Dr. K. Shu- 

 feldt has recently described the color of these naked parts as follows : " In life, the 

 eye of Geococcyx is entirely surrounded by a naked area of skin, which both above and 

 anteriorly is colored a deep Prussian-blue tint. Beneath the eye this gradually passes 

 into a pale bluish white, almost quite white in some lights. The naked space behind 

 the eye is the most extensive of all. Posteriorly this merges into the orange of the 

 parietal skin-tract, while anteriorly it blends with the other color just mentioned." 

 The parietal spaces are described as being " of a deep, though very bright, orange 

 color." We remark, however, that in the colored drawing accompanying the descrip- 

 tion the spaces mentioned are pure scarlet. The species in question inhabits 

 California, southern Texas, New Mexico, etc., and northern parts of Mexico, in the 

 southern parts of which it is replaced by a nearly allied species, G. affinis. The habits 

 are described by Col. A. I. Grayson, as follows : 



" This remarkable bird, which the Mexicans call ' churea, or correa del camino ' 

 (road-runner), so called from the habit it sometimes has of running along a path or 

 road, seldom fails to attract the attention of the traveler by its solitary and peculiar 

 habits, and often, too, in the mountainous regions and desert countries, where no other 

 living creature is to be seen. Although met with in such localities, it is, however, not 

 entirely confined to them, as it is an equal habitant of some portions of the thinly 

 wooded parts of the tierra caliente of the west, where the trees are scrubby and the 

 country open, as the barren and rocky great central plains of Mexico. It seems to 

 prefer a hilly country, but scantily supplied with vegetation, where the numerous spe- 

 cies of cacti form impenetrable thorn thickets. Here the road-runner wanders in soli- 

 tude, subsisting upon grasshoppers, mice, lizards, etc. 



