434 On the Natural History of 
which I propose to describe hereafter. AH these are more or less 
of a grey or slate -colour, transversely banded, in various ways, be- 
neath, upon a whitish ground. In the Cuculus nigricans (Zoolo- 
gical 111. ii. pi. 7-) however, we have a species, nearly typical in its 
structure, but aberrant in its colours : the wing begins to have a 
less attenuated form, the second quill being of a length intermediate 
between the first and third, instead of, as in our cuckoo, only a lit- 
tle shorter than the third. We look upon this bird, therefore, as 
conducting us to the genus Oa-yhp/ius, under which, in a word, I 
arrange all those birds of M. Vieillot's genus Coccyzus, inhabiting 
the Old World, which have pointed wings. Like the typical cuc- 
koos we have just left, these birds* are likewise parasitic ; but they 
are distinguished by having wings not quite so long, the third quill 
being shorter than the fourth : the sides of the bill are more com- 
pressed, the culmen less convex, and narrower at the base, and the 
upper mandible is perfectly entire ; the tarsus is longer, but it is 
still inferior to the longest toe. Most of the species have conspicu- 
ous crests, the feathers of which are narrow and pointed. The 
Oxylophus Levaillantii (Zool. 111. ii. pi. 13,) formerly described as 
an example of the old genus Coccyzus, and Ox. edolius (Le Vail. 
Ois. d'Af. v. pi. 207-8,) are both types of this group, and are at 
once distinguished, as before remarked, from all of the Coccyzince, 
by their longer, and more pointed wings. 
There are two or three cuckoos of North America, which I feel 
persuaded are of a distinct type from those just mentioned, although 
there is some difficulty in determining what are their external cha- 
racteristics. We are assured by Levaillant, that all the species of 
Oxyloph'us discovered by him are parasitic ; but the American 
birds to which I now allude (the Carolina and black-billed cuckoos 
of Wilson,) are not so, for both migrate into the United States for 
the purpose of breeding, so that, however their external anatomy 
may assimilate them to the genus Oxylopkus, their internal struc- 
ture must, be different. Their colouring, also, is altogether pecu- 
liar, plainly intimating their analogy to the Scansorial creepers, and 
to many of the undoubted representatives of that family. For the 
present, the formation of their wings will distinguish them at once 
from Oxylopkus, for the third quill is the longest of all ; and this 
makes the wing as much pointed as that of Cuculus. Independent 
of the two species above-mentioned of this new genus (Erythro- 
phrys,) there is another found in Brazil. 
I feel much more scrupulous in adopting the genus Chalcites, than 
in proposing that of Erythrophrys. The beautiful little shining 
* Levaillant's Oiseaux d'Afrique. 
