Carriker : List of the Birds of Costa Rica. 569 



such as one would suspect to be given forth by some animal fighting. 

 Slipping a heavy charge into the gun I crept softly toward the noise, ex- 

 pecting I knew not what, but certainly not what I finally saw. There 

 on the ground, just inside the scrub, was a Pheasant Cuckoo, hopping 

 up and down on the ground, with wings spread and head down, in a 

 perfectly crazy manner, and all the while uttering the noises which had 

 been so mystifying. I do not know what might have been the out- 

 come, but I took no chance to allow the bird to escape, for Dromococcyx 

 phasianellus is not to be picked up daily, and I speedily ended the 

 performance. 



301. Crotophaga sulcirostris Swainson. 



Crolophaga sulcirostris Swainson, Phil. Mag., N. Ser., I, 1827, 440. — Cabanis, 

 Jour, fur Orn., 1862, 171 (Costa Rica [Frantzius, Hoffmann, and Ellendorfp. — 

 Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y., IX, 1868, 128 (San Jose [J. Carmiol]). — 

 Frantzius. Jour, fur Orn., 1869, 361 (Costa Rica). — Boucard, P. Z. S'., 

 1878, 47 (San Carlos, common). — Nutting, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V, 1882, 

 401 (La Palma de Nicoya). — Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V, 1882. 498 

 (Irazu [Nuttingl). — Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. de C. R., I, 1887, 122 (Alaju- 

 ela, San Jose, and Cartago). — Cherrie, Expl. Zool. en C. R., 1891-2, 1893, 

 48 (Boruca, — common on the outskirts of the villages); Auk, I X, 1892, 325 

 (San Jose, — one of the most abundant birds in Costa Rica from both coasts 

 up to 7000 feet). — Shelley. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XIX, 1891, 432 (San 

 Jose [Carmiol]). — Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, II, 1896, 

 545 (Texas to Peru). — Underwood, Ibis, 1896, 444 (Miravalles, — all parts 

 of the country). 



U. S. Nat. Museum: Guayabo (Ridgway and Zeledon). 



C. H. Lankester Collection : Las Concovas (a partial albino). 



Carnegie Museum : Tierra Blanca (Carriker). Two skins. 



A very abundant bird in all parts of the country where any clearings 

 have been made and stock has been introduced. They never go into 

 the woodland, but as soon as forest has been felled they appear at 

 once, evidently to feed on the many insects to be found in the soft 

 second-growth which springs up so quickly in the tropics. They are 

 always to be seen in considerable numbers about pastures, perched in 

 long rows on wire fences or limbs of trees, often so close to each other 

 that their bodies touch. They have a low chuckling, not unmusical 

 note, and are very tame. Ticks are a great scourge to cattle every- 

 where in the tropics and this bird is always to be found with stock, 

 feeding on the ticks. They walk over the backs of the animals and 

 pull off the ticks or fly up from the ground and pick them off their 

 legs. 



