CUCULI 



279 



The following are some intestinal measurements, princi- 

 pally of the csBca : — 



Ciicuhis canorus . 

 Piaya cayana 

 Diplopterus ncevius 

 Saurothera dominicensis 

 Coccyzus americanus . 

 Pyrrhocentor celebensis 

 Centrojms ateralbus 



„ phasianus . 

 Phwnicophaes sp. 

 Geococcyx affinis . 

 Crotophaga sulcirostris 

 Guira piririgita . 

 Scythrops 

 Chrysococcyx 



As for the skull of the cuckoos, that of Scythrops has been 

 described by Pajbkbb * and by myself.^ Shtjfeldt has 

 studied the skeleton of Geococcyx.^ Scythrops is doubly des- 

 mognathous,the maxillo-palatines being united for their whole 

 lengths, and the palatines also being fused with each other 

 posteriorly. In other cuckoos the maxillo-palatines diverge 

 posteriorly for a short space, and there is no union between 

 the palatines. Scythrops has, according to Paekee, two 

 small vomers, situated one behind the other. ^ In cuckoos the 

 ectethmoid processes are large, and the lacrymal has often 

 (e.g. Scythrops, Crotophaga) a large descending process 

 nearly touching the jugal. Scythrops and Eudytiamis have an 

 OS uncinatum lying between the descending process of the 

 lacrymal and the ectethmoid. 



The holorhinal nostrils are much obliterated by bony 

 growths, the degree varying. As a consequence the nostrils 

 are as a rule impervious ; but in the dried skulls of Pyrrho- 

 centor and Cuculus there is a considerable foramen. 



No cuckoo has more than fourteen cervical vertebra, and 

 some have only thirteen. Three or four ribs only articulate 



Trcms. Lmn. Soc. (2), i. » P. Z. S. 1898. 



/. Afiat. Phys. xx. 1886, p. 244. 



I could only find one lying entirely between the palatiues. 



