COCCYZUS Levaillantii. 
Black and White-throated Cuckon. 
Family Cuculide. 
GENERIC CHARACTER.—Lesson. Man. 2. 120. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Head crested, the feathers pointed ; plumage above black glossed 
with green; band at the base of the quills, end of the tail, and 
under parts of the body, white ; throat striped with black. 
Variete du Coucou Edolio, Le Vail. Ois. d Af. 4. pl. 209. 
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Un ike the true Cuckows, the birds of this genus rear and 
provide for their young in the ordinary manner. The species 
are numerous in the tropical latitudes of both hemispheres. 
Two are found in North America, which, in their external 
characters, approach so near to the genuine Cuckows, that 
they barely come within the definition of the present group. 
It frequently happens that species, originally well de- 
scribed, become involved in obscurity by compilers. Le 
Vaillant, who first described this bird, supposed it a variety 
of his Coucou Edolio: but in this he was mistaken ; the one 
being a Cuculus; the other a Coccyzus. We should have 
thought our species might be the Cuculus Afer. of Drs. 
Leach and Latham, had not the former stated his bird to 
be a variety of Le Vaillant’s, and figured it as an example 
of the genus Cuculus. Dr. Latham (Gen. Hist. 3, 290) 
copies this description of C. Afer. (Zool. Mis.1. p.31), adds 
some further characters not seen in our bird, and, under 
the same name, describes what is evidently another species. 
Lastly, M. Vieillot, in his account of the genus Coccyzus 
(Orn. Ency. Meth. p. 1342), relying on the usual accuracy 
of Le Vaillant—and never, perhaps, having seen the bird— 
omits it altogether. To prevent this confusion extending 
further, and to detach the species from those dubious de- 
scriptions with which it has been mixed, we have thought 
it best to record it by the name of its first describer. 
Our figure will render a detailed description unnecessary : 
the wings, although long, are rounded ; the fifth quill being 
the longest. The total length is fifteen inches. Inhabits 
Senegal, and the Western Coast of Africa. 
