MOROCOCCYX.— DIPLOPTEEUS. 539 



This peculiar Cuckoo was first described by Lesson in 1842 ^ from a specimen 

 obtained by Adolphe Lesson at " San Carlos," Central America, and was afterwards 

 figured by Des Murs in his ' Iconographie Ornithologique ' 2. In Mexico it seems to be 

 restricted in its range to the western side of the mountains, and is found from Mazatlan 

 to Tehuantepec, and is by no means rare. In Guatemala we only observed it in the 

 valley of the Motagua river; but it probably also occurs on the Pacific side of the 

 mountains, as there is a specimen in the Bremen Museum said to have been obtained 

 on the slopes of the Volcan de Fuego by Mr. Sarg. Southwards of Guatemala it is 

 found through Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Kica, which is the extreme limit of its 

 range in this direction, as we have no record of its occurrence in Chiriqui or any part 

 of the State of Panama. 



In habits this bird somewhat resembles Geococcyx affinis, but is not nearly so 

 conspicuous. It lives in the brushwood, and may be seen walking on the ground, now 

 running rapidly, now standing still with its head erect. It climbs, too, about the 

 branches of the low underwood. It is very tame, and is difficult to shoot without 

 damaging the specimen, as both Taylor and ourselves found. Its note is short and 

 rich, and uttered at intervals, so that the natives both in Guatemala ^ and Nicaragua ^^ 

 call it "El reloj," or Clock-bird, saying that its song marks the hours. Mr. Nutting, 

 who says it is abundant at Sucuya ^^, also remarks that its nest is placed in grass, but 

 he is silent as to the colour and texture of the eggs. 



The bare skin round the eye in life is cobalt-blue. 



Subfam. BIPLOPTEBIN^. 



The two genera which constitute this subfamily are very diffierent in their general 

 appearance and in the shape of the bill, but they have a common character in the 

 great length and fullness of the upper tail-coverts, the longest of which nearly reach 

 to the end of the rectrices. In habits the members of both genera are semiterrestrial, 

 that is to say, they live on or near the ground. They fly readily, but for short distances. 

 The subfamily is purely neotropical, and has no near allies in the Old World. 



DIPLOPTERUS. 



Diplopterus, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 977; Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 423. 



The single species of this genus is a peculiar bird of wide range in South and Central 

 America. In having long upper tail-coverts it resembles Dromococcyx, but has little 

 else in commou with that genus. The bill is short and compressed, the culmen arched, 

 the nostrils elongated, opening along the lower edge of the nasal fossa ; the eyelashes 

 are strong curved bristles, the posterior ones having barbs on one side near the base. 

 The wings are more pointed than in the preceding genera, the secondaries being short ; 

 the feathers of the bastard wing are large and full, and are spread in life, and being 



68* 



