293 
Genus I. — COCCYZUS, Vieill. AMERICAN CUCKOO 
Bill of moderate length, rather slender, somewhat arched, much ■com* 
pressed, acute ; upper mandible with the dorsal line arched, the ridge 
rounded, the sides erect toward the end, the edges thin, direct, the tip 
narrow, decurved; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length, rather 
wider, the dorsal line decurved toward the end, the sides nearly erect, the 
edges decurved, the tip narrow ; the nostrils small, oblong, operculate. 
Eyelids bare, except at the margin. Head rather small; neck of moderate 
length; body slender. Feet rather short; tarsus compressed, rather stout, 
with seven very broad scutella; toes slender, compressed, anterior united 
at the base, first small. Claws moderate, arched, compressed, laterally 
grooved, acute. Plumage soft and blended, somewhat compact on the 
back. Wings of moderate length, with the first quill very short, the third 
and fourth longest. Tail very long, cuneate or graduated. 
THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 
Coccyzus americanus, Linn. 
PLATE CCLXXV. — Male and Female. 
Were I inclined, like many persons who write on Natural History, to 
criticise the figures given by other students, I should find enough to be 
censured; but as my object is simply to communicate the result of studies 
to which I have devoted the greater part of my life, I shall content myself 
with merely recommending to those intent on the advancement of that most 
interesting science, to bestow a little more care on their representations of 
the bills, legs and feet of the species which they bring into notice, and let 
it be seen that they indeed borrow from nature. 
From Nature ! — How often are these words used, when at a glance he who 
