YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 
123 
" Except where shot through the neck, the plumage 
appeared to be perfect, with no sign of abrasion either of 
wings or tail, as are seen in an " escape," and the body was 
fat and well-conditioned, weighing just over 2^ oz. ; it 
measured iif in. from beak to tail ; the third quill feather, 
the longest in the wing, being 5f inches from tip to carpal 
joint. Under mandible and base and sides of the upper, 
yellow ; the rest of the beak black. Eyes dark brown ; 
eyelids bright yellow, reminding one of the blackbird's. 
Back and two middle tail-feathers dark mouse-colour, with 
a tinge of reddish, especially on the tail ; four outer feathers 
on either side blackish, with graduated dirty white markings, 
the longest being merely and indistinctly tipped, and the 
shortest and outermost white its entire length, at least on 
the outer web. The reddish tawny mark in the wing was 
large and conspicuous even when the wings were closed, but 
this may be a sexual characteristic, as on dissection it 
proved to be a male. The under parts from beak to tail 
were of an uniform pale grey, with a slight tinge of brown 
on the breast and sides. The legs (which were conspicu- 
ously longer than in the common Cuculus canorus^ from the 
thigh feathers to the toes) were bluish lead-colour, with a 
sort of silvery bloom on them, which latter soon faded ; the 
claws were black, and it seemed to me the scales on the 
legs were remarkably large, as only five in number occupied 
the bare space. I should have mentioned, perhaps, that 
the beak was longer and more decurved than in the common 
species, and the inside of the beak, which is well-known to 
be bright orange yellow in C. canorits^ was conspicuously 
spotted with black, especially on the lower part of the 
palate, in the American bird. The tongue also had black 
markings on it. The bird had been feeding freely upon 
the grubs of the sawfly, as the distended gizzard proved, 
