130 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Description. Tail long and wedge-shaped, the feathers tapering; 

 face more completely feathered than in most parrots ; bill very stout and 

 broadly rounded; tarsi very short; wings pointed. Color green; head 

 and neck yellow; face orange red; bill whitish. 



Length 12. 5-13. 5; extent 21-23; wing 7-8; tail 6-7. 



Distribution. The Carolina paroquet formerly inhabited the eastern 

 United States from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to 

 eastern Colorado and Texas. Now it is restricted to a few localities in 

 Florida, the continued persecution of plumage hunters, bird catchers, 

 fruit growers and " sportsmen " having brought it already to the verge 

 of extermination. In New York State this bird is only of historic interest. 

 Audubon in his Birds of America records it " as far northeast as Lake 

 Ontario " (vol. 4, p. 309), and DeKay mentions the appearance of a flock 

 of Paroquets in winter, 1795, about 25 miles northwest of Albany (see 

 reference above). ^ 



Order COCCYGES 



Cuckoos, Kingfishers etc. 



Family CUCULIDAE 



Cuckoos 



Zygodactylous, the fourth toe being permanently reversed; palate 

 desmognathous, basipterygoids wanting; two carotids; two intestinal coeca; 

 ambiens, accessory femorocaudal, semitendinosus and its accessory present; 

 oil gland bare; feathers without af tershaf ting ; tail feathers usually 10 in 

 ntimber; spinal feather tract forked in the scapular region^ '■ " 



Cuckoos are famous alike for their migratory habits, loud explosive 

 voices and the custom of depositing their eggs in the neSts of other birds. 

 This parasitic nature, however, is strictly characteristic only of several 

 Old World species, especially the European Cuckoo, our native Americans 

 rarely being guilty of the practice. The family is cosmopolitan in dis- 

 tribution, but of the 150 or more species, only 2 are found within the limits 

 of New York State. These cuckoos are quite distinctive in appearance. 

 Their long slim forms and soft unmarked colors, as well as the gently 

 curved beaks and long rounded tails, furnish such an individual appearance 

 that they at once impress even the casual observer as unusual. Our 



