CUCKOOS. 



Cuculidse. 



UCKOOS play an important part in the bird-life of the Old World as 



p^ well as of our own continent. "There are about two hundred 



current species of the family. Many of them .... lay their eggs in 



other birds' nests. The American Cuckoos have been declared free 



of suspicion of such domestic irregularities ; but, though pretty 



well-behaved, their record is not quite clean : they do sometimes slip into the 



wrong nest. The curious infelicity seems to be connected in some way with 



the inability of the female to complete her clutch of eggs with the rapidity 



and regularity usual among birds, and so incubate them in one batch. The 



nests of our species of Coccyzus Commonly contain young by the time the 



last egg of the lot is laid." (Dr. Elliot Coues.) 



Three very different genera inhabit our country : 



1, Geococcyx Wagler. Running Cuckoos. One species. 



2, Coccyzus Yieillot. Rain Cuckoos. Three species. 



3, Crotophaga Linne;. Anis. Two species. 



ROAD-RUNNER, 



Geococcyx californianns Baird. 



^HIS very interesting bird is an inhabitant of our south-western border, being com- 

 mon in the western part of Texas, southern New Mexico, Arizona and California, 

 and in northern and central Mexico. It has been traced as far south as the Indian 

 Territory, and even Kansas, southern Colorado, and the southern parts of Utah and 

 Nevada. 



