Birds of Celebes: Cuculidae. 
181 
only differing in arrangement from the Passerine plan by being connected by 
a vinculum; the flexor longus hallucis leads to the hallux alone, the flexor perf or ans 
digitorum serves the other three digits. The palate is desmognathous ; basiptery- 
goid processes are wanting”. Resemblances to the Gallinae and the Opisthocomus 
have been x^ointed out by Huxley and Garrod; an important point of diffe- 
rence is that the young of the Gallinae run about and feed themselves as soon 
as they are hatched, but the young of the Coccyges are hatched naked and 
helpless, in which they resemble the Pigeons more. 
FAMILY CUCULIDAE. 
The best external clues to the recognition of a Cuckoo-form are, perhaps, 
furnished by the zygodactyle foot (the outer toe reversed), the claws usually 
weak, the bill decurved and usually weak, with the nostrils exposed (except in 
"I or 3 genera, Dasylophus^ Lepidogrammus)^ the tail-feathers 10 in number 
(except in Crotophaga and Guira^ which have only 8 ) and often long and 
broad. The following anatomical and pterylological characters are noted by ana- 
tomical writers: Palate desmognathous; basipterygoid processes absent; caeca 
present; both carotids present; contour-feathers without any aftershaft; dorsal 
feather-tract divided between the shoulders, and enclosing a lanceolate naked 
space on the back; oil-gland present, but nude; young hatched naked, and not 
passing through a downy stage before acquiring feathers. Shelley recognises 
6 subfamilies, of which three, Cuculinae, Centropodinae^ and Phoenicophainae occur 
in Celebes, and Scythrops is entitled to be regarded as a fourth subfamily. 
SUBFAMILY CUCULINAE. 
The true Cuckoos may be recognised, as Shelley points out, by their long, 
ffat wings which do not fit closely to the body, and the longest primaries over- 
reach the secondaries by more than the length of the tarsus or hill. The tail 
rarely exceeds the wing in length [Coccystes^ Cacomantis and Surniculus are excep- 
tions. They are parasitic in their habits, at least in most cases. 
GENUS HIEROCOCCYX S. Mil 11. 
A genus which hardly differs from Cuculus except in having the wing less 
pointed, the secondaries being about % to V 4 wing-length, instead of 
only about V 2 as in Cuculus, and the tail-feathers crossed with four or 
five dark bands, instead of having them (in the adult) black with spots of 
white at intervals against the shafts of the feathers. Six species are recognised 
by Shelley, ranging from East Siberia and India to Celebes. One of them, H. 
sparverioides, has been observed to build its own nest and brood on its eggs, 
but it has also been recorded as parasitic, like, so far as is known, its fel- 
low-species. 
