474 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. 
— PICABI^— CUCULIFOBMES. 
427. Cr. calif ornia'nus. (Of California. Figs. 324, 325.) Ground Cuckoo. Chaparral Cock. 
Road Runner. Snake Killer. Paisano. Most of the feathers of the head and neck 
bristle -tipped ; a naked area around eye ; crown crested ; plumage coarse. $ 9 Above, lus- 
trous bronzy or coppery-green, changing to dark steel-blue on the head and neck, to purplish- 
violet on the middle tail-feathers; everywhere except on rump conspicuously streaked with 
white, mixed with tawny on the head, neck, and wings — this white and buff streaking con- 
sisting of the edges of the feathers, M'hich are frayed out, fringe-like, producing a peculiar 
effect. Breast, throat and sides of neck mixed tawny-white and black ; other under parts dull 
soiled whitish. Primaries white, tipped and with oblique white space on outer webs. Lateral 
tail-feathers steel-blue with green and violet reflections, their outer webs fringed part way with 
white, their tips broadly white. Lower back and rump, where covered by the folded wings, 
dark-colored and unmarked; under surface of wings sooty-brown. Bare space around eye 
bluish and orange. Bill dark horn-color ; feet the same, the larger scales yellowish. Young 
birds are very similar, the iridescence developing with the first growth of the feathers, as in a 
magpie ; more M'hite and less tawny in the streaking. Nearly two feet long ; tail a foot or less ; 
wing 6-7 inches ; tarsus 2.00; bill 1.66-2.00. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and 
southward ; Colorado ; Arkansas River. A bird of remarkable aspect, noted for its swiftness 
of foot ; aided by its wings held as outriggers, it taxes the horse in a race ; feeds on fruits, rep- 
tiles, insects', and land mollusks. Nest in bushes ; a slight, loose structure of twigs, as if the 
birds were just learning how to build. Eggs 6-8-9, white, elliptical, averaging 1.55 X 1.20. 
They are laid at considerable intervals, and incubation begins as soon as a few are deposited. 
The development of the chicks is rapid ; perfectly fresh eggs and newly hatched young may be 
found together ; and by the time the last young are breaking the shell the others may be graded 
up to half the size of the adult. The birds are sometimes domesticated, making amusing pets. 
They are singular birds — cuckoos compounded of a chicken and a magpie ! 
38. Subfamily COCCYCIN/E: American Cuckoos. 
Tail of ten soft feathers, much graduated, 
little longer than the wings, which are 
somewhat pointed, although the first and 
second quills are shortened. Bill about 
equalling or rather shorter than the head, 
stout at base, then much compressed, curved 
throughout, tapering to a rather acute tip ; 
nostrils basal, inferior, exposed, elliptical ; 
feet comparatively small, the tarsus naked, 
not longer than the toes. There are four or 
five genera, and perhaps twenty species, 
of this subfamily ; one genus only is North 
Fig. 326. -American Tree Cuckoo (Coccy^/^s america. American, with three distinct species. 
nus), reduced. (From Tenney, after Wilson.) 
121. COC'CYGUS. (An adjectival form derived from kokkv^, a cuckoo.) Tree Cuckoos. Head 
not crested ; all the feathers soft. Bill as above. Wings pointed, but not longer than the 
tail ; inner quills not folding over much of the primaries ; 3d and 4th primaries longest, 2d and 
5th shorter, 1st much shorter still. Tail of soft rather tapering feathers, with very obtuse 
ends; much graduated. Tibial feathers flowing; tarsi naked, shorter than middle toe. Our 
species are strictly arboricole birds of lithe form, blended plumage and subdued colors; the 
head is not crested ; the tibial feathers are full, as in a hawk ; the sexes are alike, and the* 
young scarcely different; the upper parts are uniform satiny olive-gray, or quaker-color," 
with bronzy reflections. Lay numerous plain greenish elliptical eggs, in a rude nest of twigs 
