522 ClfCULiD^. 



1858. A party of eight or ten individuals was observed sitting very quietly in a tree at 

 some distance from the ground, and being quite regardless of the gun, or the presence 

 of man, several were obtained. The specimens labelled as females proved to be slightly 

 larger than those marked as males. We have no representatives of M. pallescens from 

 this region ; but a little further south Mr. Wyatt once met with it in the forest near 

 Paturia in the Magdalena Valley ^, and Salmon secured several examples in the Cauca 

 Valley *, and he noted the contents of the stomach as " lizards &c.," a variation from 

 the usual insect diet of all the members of the family. 



Pam. CUCULID-ai. 



The family of Cuculidse is one of nearly world-wide distribution, being absent only 

 in the extreme northern and southern portions of the world. In the temperate regions 

 the species are few and migratory, whilst in the tropics they abound, and here we find 

 most of the genera. 



In Captain Shelley's recently compiled ' Catalogue of the Cuculidse,' the family is 

 divided into six subfamilies containing in all forty-two genera and about 172 species. 

 Of these the Cuculinae, with seventeen genera, is represented in America by Coccyzus 

 alone with about eleven species. The Centropodinse is a purely Old- World subfamily. 

 The Phoenicophainae containing sixteen genera has, as purely American representatives, 

 Saurothera with five species, Hyetornis with one, and Piaya with four species. The 

 NeomorphinsB is more strictly American, and is only represented in the Old World by 

 the Bornean and Sumatran Carpococcyx ; Neomorphus, Geococcyx, and Morococcyx being 

 purely American, and contain five, two, and one species respectively. The Diplopterinse, 

 with Biplopterus (one species) and Bromococcyx (two species), is found in America 

 alone, as is the Crotophaginse with two genera, Crotopliaga (three species) and Guira 

 (one species). 



America, then, owns exclusively two subfamilies — Diplopterinae and Crotophaginse ; 

 it shares the Cuculinae, Phoenicophainae, and Neomorphinae with the Old World, but 

 has no representative of the Centropodinae. 



Only eleven of the total of forty-two of the genera of Cuculidae are found in America, 

 and only thirty-six of about 172 species. 



Comparing the representatives of the family in the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, 

 we find Coccyzus in North America, with three species (two of which are migrants), 

 some of which pass their breeding-season in the North-American continent. One of 

 the species of Geococcyx is found along the southern border of the region, and two 

 species of Crotophaga just pass beyond the limits of the Neotropical region. 



In Mexico and Central America eight of the eleven genera are found, and fifteen of 

 the thirty-six species. These are widely distributed over the area, the greater number 

 of species occurring in the southern portion bordering the southern continent. 



