448 The Cuckoo-like Birds 



two or three similarly colored eggs in each nest, and when the young Koel is 

 strong enough it manages to get rid of the young Crows by pushing them over 

 the edge. 



Red -faced Cuckoo. The typical member of the subfamily, known as the 

 Red-faced Malkoha (Phcenicophaes pyrrhocephalus}, and the sole tenant of its 

 genus, is a huge Cuckoo eighteen inches in length, with a stout, compressed, and 

 much-curved upper mandible, with the narrow slit-like nostrils parallel with 

 and close to the commissure, while the sides of the head are bare, and the crown 

 and throat provided with stiff, barbed feathers. The plumage is black and 

 metallic bluish green above and white below, and the long, graduated tail is 

 white-tipped. It is a shy bird, sometimes seen in flocks, and keeps much to the 

 forests and dense undergrowth; its food consists largely of fruit. This species, 

 together with all the other members of the subfamily except the Koels, make 

 their own nests and rear their own young in the orthodox manner; it is found 

 only in Ceylon. 



Lizard Cuckoos. Of the New World representatives of this group, mention 

 may be made of West Indian Lizard Cuckoos or Rain-birds, especially of the 

 genus Saurothera, of which there are half a dozen forms, characterized among 

 other things by a bare vermilion patch around the eye, which is separated from 

 the bill by a band of feathers, and by the white-tipped tail-feathers. They 

 are large birds, the so-called Lizard-catcher (S. dominicensis] of San Domingo 

 reaching a length of seventeen inches, and others are still larger. In this species 

 the plumage is ashy brown above, ashy white on the lower throat and chest, 

 and rufous-buff on the upper throat and remaining under parts; the wing-quills 

 are chestnut. Of its habits Mr. Cory says: "It waits quietly, standing per- 

 fectly motionless until a lizard comes within its reach and then with surprising 

 quickness darts upon and kills it. I have seen lizards four or five inches long 

 killed in this way. It has a long, loud call consisting of a series of quickly 

 repeated cries, somewhat resembling that of our Golden-winged Woodpecker." 



Chestnut Cuckoo. Of the Mexican and Central and South American genus 

 Piaya, which also belongs here, the Chestnut Cuckoo (P. cayana) may be taken 

 as an example, this being about nineteen inches in length, of which the tail 

 makes up nearly or quite eleven inches, and in color is reddish chestnut through- 

 out except for the gray breast and abdomen. It is widely spread over Central 

 and South America, and of its habits as observed in Argentina, Mr. Hudson says: 

 "It seems to feed chiefly if not altogether on the ground, and when perched 

 always appears awkward and ill at ease. On a branch it sits motionless until 

 approached, and then creeps away through the leaves and escapes on the opposite 

 side of the tree. Its language is a loud, screaming cry, on account of which 

 the Brazilians call it Alma do gato, implying that it possesses the soul of a cat. 

 It is a very shy, retiring bird." 



Road-runners. Another group of four genera and less than a dozen species 

 of ground Cuckoos, curiously divided between Borneo and Sumatra and the 

 New World, comprises the fourth subfamily (Neomorphincz). Structurally 

 they are known by their powerful legs and feet, adapting them for terrestrial 



