135 



Economic Status. This is a northern bird which occurs within the 

 bounds of cultivation only in winter and rarely. Few data are available 

 upon its food, but without doubt it is a mouser as it is too small to prey upon 

 larger animals. 



Order — Coccyges. Cuckoos and Kingfishers. 



Systematic zoologists are not agreed on the classification of these 

 birds. The present American Ornithologists' Union check-hst (1910 

 edition) recognizes these as composing a full order and divides the Canadian 

 representatives into two suborders : Cuculi, including the American Cuckoos 

 and extrahmital famihes, and Alcyones, the Kingfishers. Distinctive 

 characters are most easily described under the subfamily and specific 

 headings. 



SUBORDER— CUCULI. CUCKOOS, ETC. 



This suborder is represented in North America by only one family, 

 Cuculidce, comprising the Anis and two groups of Cuckoos. 



FAMILY CUCULID^. AMERICAN CUCKOOS. 



A family represented in North America by three subfamilies, only 

 one of which occurs in Canada — Coccyzinos, the American Tree Cuckoos. 



Subfamily — Coccyzince. American Tree Cuckoos. 



General Description. Birds with weak feet and yoke toes, two toes directed forward 

 and two backwards (Figure 37, p. 24). The bills are rather long, gently curved, and sharp 

 pointed. The plumage is soft and thin, lacking in cohesion, and has the soft silky feeling 

 associated with many tropical species. The tail is long, soft, and graduated. 



Distinctions. May be distinguished from the Woodpeckers, which also have yoke 

 toes, directed two and two, by the difference in the bills and tails. In the Woodpecker 

 the bills are straight, stout, the tip chisel-pointed, and the tail is rather short, very stiff, 

 and bristle-like at the tip. 



The Cuckoos are largely tropical in distribution. The two Canadian 

 cuckoos are outhers from the main body of species in warmer latitudes. 

 They are possessed of a sensuous tropical grace and air that are out of keeping 

 with northern climes. This is exhibited in their lithe, sinuous carriage, 

 full round deep throat, long graceful tail, and thin but soft and silky plumage. 

 They haunt hot and humid jungles of shrubbery, and flit across the open 

 spaces with a silent undulating flight that seems in harmony with their 

 exotic nature. EngUsh literature is rich in reference to the Cuckoo, but 

 little that is said is applicable to the Canadian Cuckoo. The latter is not 

 an early arriving species and comes in spring with a quietness and a silence 

 that hides its presence for some time after arrival. Its notes, too, are 

 entirely different from those with which European writers have made us 

 familiar. The calls of our birds are less musical but have a charm of their 

 own and a wildness and unusual quaUty in keeping with their natures. 

 The two Canadian species are very much aUke in their calls; a loud 

 startling " Kaow-kaow-kaow " is one of the most characteristic and one 

 that, on the still summer air, can be heard for a quarter of a mile or more. 

 Again they have a " Kuck-kuck-kuck " note like a big clock beating seconds, 

 that has not the range of the above but has considerable carrying power. 



