THE EOAD-EUNNEE. 17 



product of two birds. Sets ranging from four to six eggs are the rule. In 

 large sets several sterile eggs are nearly always found, and I believe that 

 rarely more than five young are hatched at one time. Incubation begins 

 sometimes with the first two eggs laid, especially when the set is to be a large 

 one, and again I have taken apparently full sets of four eggs in which there 

 was no perceptible difference in the size of the embryos. Occasionally an egg 

 is deposited daily, usually only every other day, and sometimes the intervals 

 are still greater. Incubation lasts about eighteen days, and both sexes assist in 

 this labor. 



The parents are devoted to their young, and when incubation is well 

 advanced the bird will sometimes allow itself to be caught on the nest rather 

 than abandon its eggs. The nestlings, when disturbed, make a clicking noise 

 with their bills. When taken young, they are readily tamed, soon becoming 

 attached to their captor, showing a great deal of sagacity, and making amusing 

 and interesting pets. 



The eggs of the Road-runner are white in color and unspotted, mostly 

 ovate and short ovate, and rarely elliptical ovate in shape. The shell consists of 

 two layers, the lower one close and fine grained, always pure white, without 

 gloss; the upper, a mere film similar to that covering the ground color of the 

 Anis, but more firm and not so easily scratched or rubbed off. This overlaying 

 film gives these eggs sometimes a very pale yellow tint and a moderately 

 glossy appearance. 



The average measurement of one hundred and one eggs in the United 

 States National Museum collection is 39.12 by 29.97 millimetres, or 1.54 by 1.18 

 inches. The largest egg of the series measures 44.45 by 29.97 millimetres, or 

 1.75 by 1.18 inches; the smallest, 36.07 by 28.19 millimetres, or 1.42 by 1.11 

 inches. 



The type specimen. No. 20464 (PI. 1, Fig. 2), from a set of four eggs, 

 Bendire collection, was taken by the writer near Tucson, Arizona, on June 18, 

 1872, and represents an averaged-sized egg of this species. 



5. Coccyzus minor (Gmelin). 



MANGROVE CUCKOO. 



Cuculus minor Gmelin, Systema Naturae, I, i, 1788, 411. 

 Coccyzus minor Oabanis, Journal fiir Ornithologie, 1856, 104. 



(B 71, 292, E 386, 429, U 386.) 



Gbogkaphical RANGE: The West India Islands, excepting the Bahamas; the coast 

 regions of northern South America from Guiana to Colombia, thence north through Central 

 America on both coasts; on the Pacific, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; on the Gulf coast 

 to Tampico, Mexico, and probably still farther north; in the United States to the coast of 

 Louisiana, and in southern Florida, on the west side mainly, north to about latitude 27° 30'. 



The breeding range of the Mangrove, also known as the "Black-eared" 

 Cuckoo, and on the Island of Jamaica as the "Young Old-man Bird," is, in 

 the United States, as far as known, a very restricted one, being mainly confined 



16896— No. 3 2 



