the Family of Cuculidoe. 435 



cuckoos, indeed, which have thus been detached, have altogether the 

 appearance of belonging to a different type than those of the genus 

 Cv cuius ; and this idea is strengthened, when we find there are al- 

 ready four or five species, all distinguished at first sight by their 

 diminutive size, and their beautiful golden-green plumage. On 

 the other hand, their actual structure is so completely that of an 

 European group, that I must beg to be understood as being by no 

 means satisfied on the propriety of the separation. For the present, 

 however, I shall adopt this genus, conceiving that these splendid 

 little birds may probably constitute the tenuirostral type of the 

 Cuculince, in which case they will be analogous to the humming- 

 birds, and nearly all those genera whose plumage is ornamented 

 with metallic colours. The attempt that has been made to define 

 the group by its bill, nostrils, &c as distinct from the cuckoos, is 

 singularly unsuccessful ; while those light shades of difference really 

 existing between Chalcites and Cuculus have been completely over- 

 looked. Chalciies, in fact, has the bill, nostrils, feet, and wings of 

 Cu cuius, with this difference only, that the tip of the upper man- 

 dible is without the slightest indication of a notch : the second and 

 third quill are longer than the fourth, and the feathers of the rump 

 and upper tail-covers, instead of being thick-set and rigid, are of the 

 same degree of density and softness as in ordinary birds. We have 

 seen, that, however dissimilar in their appearance the foregoing 

 groups of the Cuculince may be, yet that the variation of their ex- 

 ternal structure is but slight. This consideration has much weight 

 with me in the temporary adoption of M. Lesson's genus Chalciies, 

 for we have just seen an example, in Erythrophrys, where there is 

 an equally slight variation in external form, yet a most important 

 one in economy and internal organization. 



The genus Eudynamys of MM. Horsefield and Vigors rests on 

 a much better foundation than the last. It is at once distinguish- 

 ed from Cuculus by a stronger and thicker bill, the under mandi- 

 ble of which is not only destitute of any curve, but has a decided 

 angle at the under ridge. The feet are also proportionably strong, 

 and are the most robust of all those groups we have yet noticed : 

 the tarsus is longer, and almost naked, while the rump feathers are 

 short and soft. In other respects, such as the wing, nostrils, and 

 tail, this genus agrees with Cuculus. The nostrils, however, judg- 

 ing from dried specimens, appear to be more oval than round. The 

 great size of the bill in this genus induces me to think it is that 

 which represents the Toucans, in which case it will be a tissirostral 

 type. 



All the Cuckoos I have yet seen, with more or less pointed 



