472 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICABI^— CUCULIFORMES. 



425. 



426 



sort- of colony of Communists uniting to build a large nest to be used in common. The eggs 

 are greenish, overlaid with a white chalky substance, easily rubbed oflf when fresh. 

 C. a'nl. (The Brazilian name. Fig. 323.) hsi. Black Witch. Savanna Blackbird. 

 Bill smooth or with a few transverse wrinkles ; culmen regularly curved. Color black, witli 

 violet and steel-blue reflections, duller below, the lanceolate feathers of the head and neck 

 ^vith bronze borders. Iris brown. Length 13.00-15.00; wing 6.00; tail 8.00; tarsus 1.50. 

 Tropical America ; West Indies ; Florida ; accidental near Philadelphia. 



Fig. 323. — Ani, Jnat. size. (From Brehm.) 



C. sulciros'tris. (Lat. sulcus, a groove ; rostris, pertaining to the beak.) Groove-billed 

 Ani. Bill with three distinct grooves on upper mandible, parallel with the regularly curved 

 culmen. Black, with steel-blue and violet reflections, more olive- 

 brown on belly ; scaly feathers of head and neck bronzy, of breast, 

 back and wings metallic greenish. Wings mth 4th and 5th 

 quills longest, 3d little shorter, 2d nearly an inch, 1st nearly 2: 

 inches from point of wing. BiU more than twice as high as 

 broad at the base ; 0.85 high, 0.37 broad, 1.20 long. Bill and 

 feet black, scahng grayish in some places. Iris brown. Length 

 14.50; extent 17.00; wing 5.50-6.00 ; tail 7.50-8.00, graduated 2 

 inches ; tarsus, or middle toe and claw, 1.50. Tropical America ; 

 N. to Texas in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Eggs said to be 

 usually five, and no peculiarity of nesting noted ; nest of twigs. 



(After Cassin.) 



IcadofGeococcyx. 



lined with fibrous roots, in a tn^e or bush. 



