532 CUCULIB.E. 



Coccyzusa gracilis, Heine, J. f. Orti. 1863, p. 356". 



Piaya gracilis, Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 366". 



Supra castanea, capite summo ad fronfcem rufesoentiore, uropygio et cauda saturatioribus : subtus gutture toto 

 rufesoente, abdomine griseo, ventre imo, tectricibua subalaribus et tibiis griseo-nigricantibus ; caudae rectri- 

 cibus omnibus ad apioem fusco-nigricantibus et albo terminatis, rectricibus lateralibus subtus fere omnino 

 nigris usque ad maoulam albam terminalem vix castaneo tinctis, sed supra castaneis usque ad fasoiam 

 subterminalem nigram ; rostro flavido, maxillae basi fusca ; pedibus plumbeis. Long, tota circa lO'O, 

 alae 3'9, caudse rectr. med. 6'0, rectr. lat. 3-0, rostri a rictu 0'85, tarsi I'l. (Descr. maris ex Lion 

 Hill, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 



ITab. Panama, Lion Hill {M'Leannan^ ^^). — South America, from Colombia and 

 Ecuador i" to Guiana, Amazons Valley, and Brazil ''. 



This Cuckoo is a miniature form of P. cayana, the tints and distribution of the 

 colours of its plumage being very similar. It has a wide range over the northern 

 parts of the South-American continent from Guiana and the mouth of the Amazons 

 to Western Ecuador. It just enters our fauna, being not uncommon on the Isthmus 

 of Panama, where M'Leannan met with it and sent specimens to Lawrence and to 

 ourselves. The bird of Western Ecuador was separated by Heine as Coccyzusa 

 gracilis^^, but there appears to be no difference of any importance between it and 

 birds from further east. 



Of the habits of P. minuta little is recorded. Mr. Layard ^ shot one about ten miles 

 from Para in a garden. It crept through the bushes and trees just like a Coitus 

 (a bird with which he was familiar in South Africa), always, on his approach, flying 

 out on the opposite side of the bush. Its stomach contained spiders and caterpillars. 

 The iris in life is red. 



Subfam. NEOMORPHINM 



Of the four genera contained in this subfamily, Carpococcyx of Borneo and Sumatra 

 has a general resemblance to Neomorphus, but differs in some important particulars. 

 Geococcyx is a very isolated form peculiar to Mexico and the northern frontier States 

 and to the northern section of Central America; Morococcyx is another isolated form. 

 All these birds are of terrestrial habits, though they rest on low trees and scrub-wood. 

 The wings are short, the primaries hardly exceeding the secondaries in length, and the 

 whole wing when closed fitting close to the body ; the tail is long, rounded, and 

 consists of ten wide feathers ; the tarsi are long, and the distal ends of the tibiae clothed 

 with short feathers. 



NEOMORPHUS. 



Neomorphus, Gloger, in Froriep's Notiz. xvi, p. 278 (1837) ; Lawr. Ibis, 1873, pp. 287 et seq.; 



Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 415, 

 Cultrides, Pucheran, Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 51. 



Of this remarkable genus of Cuckoos five species are now known, but all of them are 



