CUGULIDJE — SAUBOTHEBIN^: GROUND CUCKOOS. 



473 



147. 



37. Subfamily SAUROTHERIN/E : Ground Cuckoos. 



Tail of ten feathers, graduated, longer than the short, rounded, coucave wings. Bill about 

 as long as the head, compressed, straight at base, tapering, witli deiiected tij., gently curved 

 cnlmcn and ample rictus. Feet large and strong, in adaptation to terrestrial life ; tarsus longer 

 than the toes, scutcllate before and behind. One West Indian genus, Saiiwthcni, with tliree 

 or four species, and the following, with two : — 

 GEOCOC'CYX. (Gr. yij, ge, tlie ground; kokku^, hilicux, a cuckoo.) 



Ground Cuckoos. 



i -s— 



Fig. 325. — Ground Cuckoo, \ nat. size. {From Brehm.) 



Head crested ; most feathers of head and neck bristle-tipped ; eyelids lashed ; whole plumage 

 coarse. A bare colored space around eye. Bill about as long as head, neai-ly straight, but with 

 culmen and commissure ranch deeurved toward end, gonys if anything a little concave. Wings 

 very short and concavo-convex, with long inner secondaries folding entirely over the primaries; 

 4th, 5th, and succeeding pirimaries longer than 3d, 2d, and 1st, which rapidly shorten. Tail of 

 long tapering feathers, much graduated, making more than half the total length of the bird. 

 Feet as above. Plumage lustrous and variegated above. Sexes substantially alike. Eminently 

 terrestrial ; nest in bushes ; eggs numerous. 



