80 MANUAL 



Sub-family a CROTOFHAG-IN-SI Anis 



Tail of eight feathers ; bill short, compressed, and high, 

 and altogether marked and peculiar, once seen not easily for- 

 gotten ; nostrils near the centre of the base of the upper man- 

 dible, exposed, oblong, and upper mandible curved down over 

 the under ; wings about the length of the body and slightly 

 concaved ; tail long and graduated ; face naked. 



Genus Crotophaga, (2 species). 



None of these birds are common, though the species are numerous, even 

 in tropical countries where thej' mostly reside. They live on the ground. 



Sub-family b SAUROTHERIN.53 Ground Cuckoos 



Tail of ten feathers ; bill about equal to the head, still com- 

 pressed and with the upper mandible curving over the under, 

 stout though slender ; rictus with bristles ; tarsus long and 

 toes strong though still small, scutellate (both toes and tar- 

 sus) ; nostrils much less rounded than in a ; wings much as 

 in a though even shorter than the body or not longer, and 

 more concaved ; tail long, narrow, and graduated. This, like 

 the former, is a rare group as well as a peculiar one. Face 

 feathered. 



Genus Geococcyx. 



Sub-family c COCCYGINiE True Cuckoos 



Tail of ten feathers ; bill a little shorter than the head, 

 stout growing more slender towards the acute tip, curved no- 

 ticeably, and compressed ; nostrils as in a and b but oblong ; 

 face feathered ; tarsus and feet fitted for living among the 

 trees and not on the ground as with a and b, and weak ; wings 

 longer and more pointed than in the other groups (relatively 

 to the size of the body, that is) ; tail long, broad, graduated. 

 Genus Coccygus. 

 Synonym Ciiculus. 



Two species of this family, only, are everywhere distrib- 

 uted in North America, at least in the United States, and 

 common ; they are the Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



