CUCULWM CBOTOPHAGINM : ANIS. 



471 



forms showing peculiar minor modifications ; these correspond in great measure with certain 

 geographical areas of faunal distribution, and are generally held to constitute subfamilies. 

 Three or four such arc con- 

 fined to America ; about twice 

 as many belong exclusively to 

 the Old AVorld ; among them 

 are the CucuUna, or typical 

 cucktios allied to the European 



C. canorus (fig. 322), famous, 



like our Cowbird, for their 



parasitism. This section ccnn- 



prehends the great majority of 



the Old World species ; the 



Couinm are a peculiar Mada- 



gascan type ; others rest upon 



a special condition of the 



claws or plumage. There are 



about 200 current species of 



the family. Many of them, 



besides the one just cited in 



instance, lay their eggs in 



other birds' nests. The Amer- 

 ican cuckoos have been de- 



clared free of suspicion of such "' "' ''"' 



domestic irregularities; but, though pretty well-behaved, their record is not quite clean: they 



do sometimes slip into the wrong nest. The curious infelicity seems to be connected in some 



way with the inability of the 9 to complete her clutch of eggs with the rapidity and regularity 



usual among birds, and so incubate them in one batch. The nests of our species of Coccygus 



commonly contain young by the time the last egg of the lot is laid. 



We have three very distinct genera, usually referred to as many subfamilies. 



Ceotophagikjj;. Terrestrial. 



Analysis of Suhfamilies and Genera. 

 Tail of 8 feathers. Bill compressed, crested. 



Plumage lustrous black 



Crotophaga 146 



SAUBOTHERIN.E. Terrestrial. Tail of 10 feathers. Feet ambulatorial, with long tarsi. . . Geococcyx 147 



CoccYGlNJi:. Arboreal. Tail of 10 feathers. Feet insessorial, with short tarsi Coccygus 148 



36. Subfamily CROTOPHACIN/E : Anis. 



Tail of eicjlit feathers, graduated, longer than the rounded wings. Bill exceedingly com- 

 pressed, the upper mandible rising into a thin vertical crest, the sides usually sulcate, the tip 

 deflected. Plumage uniform (black), lustrous, the feathers of the head and neck lengthened, 

 lanceolate, distinct, with scale-hke margins ; face naked. Terrestrial. Nest in bushes. One 

 genus, of three species, of the warmer parts of America. 

 146. CROTO'PHAGA. (Gr. Kpormj', Proton, a bug ; (^layos, phagos, eiiivag.) Anis. In addition 

 to the characters of the subfamily : Bill about as long as head, with regularly convex or angu- 

 lated culmen, its sides smooth, wrinkled, or sulcate ; tip of upper mandible decurved over end 

 of lower; gonys straight. Wings rounded ; 4th or .5th primary longest, 1st quite short. Tail- 

 feathers broad, widening to very obtuse ends. Tarsus longer than middle toe, anteriorly 

 broadly scutellate, the sides with large plates meeting in a ridge behind. According to the 

 concurrent testimony of various independent observers, the cuculine irregularity of nesting is 

 expressed in a very curious manner, in the case of C. ami at least ; several birds forming a 



