CUCULID^ — SAUBOTHERIN^: GROUND CUCKOOS. 
473 
37. Subfamily SAUROTHERIN^ : Ground Cuckoos. 
Tail of ten feathers, graduated, longer than the short, rounded, concave wings. Bill about 
as long as the head, compressed, straight at base, tapering, with deflected tip, gently curved 
culmen and ample rictus. Feet large and strong, in adaptation to terrestrial life ; tarsus longer 
than the toes, scutellate before and behind. One West Indian genus, Saurothera, with three 
or four species, and the following, with two : — 
147. GEOCOC'CYX. (Gr. yfj, ge, the ground ; kokkv^, koMux, a cuckoo.) GROUND CuCKOOS. 
Fig. 325. — Ground Cuckoo, I nat. size. (From Brehm.) 
Head crested ; most feathers of head and neck bristle-tipped ; eyelids lashed ; whole plumage 
coarse. A bare colored space around eye. Bill about as long as head, nearly straight, but with 
culmen and commissure much decurved toward end, gonys if anything a little concave. Wings 
very short and concavo-convex, with long inner secondaries folding entirely over the primaries; 
4th, 5th, and succeeding primaries longer than 3d, 2d, and 1st, which rapidly shorten. Tail of 
long tapering feathers, much graduated, making more than half the total length of the bird. 
Feet as above. Plumage lustrous and variegated above. Sexes substantially alike. Eminently 
terrestrial ; nest in bushes ; eggs numerous. 
