293 



Genus I.— COCCYZUS, Vieill. AMERICAN CUCKOO. 



Bill of moderate length, rather slender, somewhat arched, much com- 

 pressed, acute; upper mandible with the dorsal line arched, the ridge 

 rounded, the sides erect toward the end, the edges thin, direct, the tip 

 narrow, decurved; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length, rather 

 wider, the dorsal line decurved toward the end, the sides nearly erect, the 

 edges decurved, the tip narrow; the nostrils small, oblong, operculate. 

 Eyelids bare, except at the margin. Head rather small; neck of moderate 

 length; body slender. Feet rather short; tarsus compressed, rather stout, 

 with seven very broad scutella; toes slender, compressed, anterior united at 

 the base, first small. Claws moderate, arched, compressed, laterally grooved, 

 acute. Plumage soft and blended, somewhat compact on the back. Wings 

 of moderate length, with the first quill very short, the third and fourth 

 longest. Tail very long, cuneate or graduated. 



THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, 



-^Coccyzus americanus, Linn. 



PLATE CCLXXV.— Male and Female. 



Were I inclined, like many persons who write on Natural History, to 

 criticise the figures given by other students, I should find enough to be 

 censured; but as my object is simply to communicate the result of studies to 

 which I have devoted the greater part of my life, I shall content myself 

 with merely recommending to those intent on the advancement of that most 

 interesting science, to bestow a little more care on their representations of 

 the bills, legs and feet of the species which they bring into notice, and let it 

 be seen that they indeed borrow from nature. 



From Nature! — How often are these words used, when at a glance he who 





