3IO BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULLE^TIN 2. 6. 
I am now able to add to the list C. eiilcri — very distinct from C. ameri- 
camis. but sometimes confused with that species. 
The species of Piaya and of Crotophaga and Tapcra nacvia are. I 
believe, resident in all localities where found, while the species of Coc- 
cyzus are transient, or at best, not permanent residents in the Orinoco 
region and ark known collectively as Crcclenferos, a vernacular name 
alluding to the fact that they appear at the season of the annual rise of 
the Orinoco. 
Key to the Genera, Species and Subspecies of Cucuijdae. 
a. Maxilla ven,' deep, much compressed; general color of plumage above 
and below black. 
b. Sides of maxilla smooth with neither longitudinal grooves nor ridges . Crotophaga ani. 
b'. Sides of maxilla ridged or grooved longitudinally. 
c. Larger, wing more than 17 cm.; upper parts of body glossed with 
iridescent steel blue Crotophaga major. 
c'. Smaller, wing less than 17 cm.; body glossed with iridescent 
purplish Crotophaga sulcirostris. 
a'. Maxilla not abnormally deep and compressed, and general color of 
plumage not black. 
6. General color of upper-parts red-brown. 
c. Top of head grey, in shait> contrast with red-brown back Piaya melanogastra. 
c'. Head not grey, nearly uniform with back. 
d. Smaller, total length less than 30 cm Piaya rulila or inocevsis. 
d'. Larger, total length more than 30 cm. 
e. Outer webs of second and third pairs of rectrices largely rufous 
(except for the blackish subapical band, about 25 mm. in 
width) Piaya cayana insulana. 
e'. Outer webs of second and third pairs of rectrices not rufous. 
/. Tail-feathers underneath nearly uniform blackish, with little 
or no trace of rusty shading, and blackish subterminal band 
almost obsolete Piaya cayana cayana. 
/'. Tail underneath blackish but with a distinct rusty shading. 
and narrow subapical band about 10 mm. ;n width Piaya cayana colnmbiana. 
b'. General color of upper-parts t 
c. Very large, tail more than ; 
tipped. 
d. Chin and upper throat dusky brownish, merging into black on 
lower throat; breast and belly dusky mouse-gray Neomorphus nigrogula\ 
d'. Chin and upper throat smoke-gray, followed by a band across 
the lower throat and neck where the feathers have black tips 
(narrow anteriorly but occupying half or more of feather posteri- 
orly) ; breast and belly drab gray; under tail-coverts dusky brown X eomorphus rufi pejittti 
('. Smaller, tail less than 20 cm.; rectrices (except intermedia^) white 
tipped. 
d. Crested ; upper-parts more or less streaked with blackish Tapera naevia, 
d'. Not crested, and upper-parts not streaked. 
e. Chin and throat hazel brown, in sharp contrast with remaining 
Micrococcyx pumtlus. 
. Color of chin and throat not in sharp contrast with re 
lower parts. 
/. Mandible black; lower parts strongly suffused with buff.. . . Coccyzus melacoryphu 
/'. Mandible yellowish or orange with blackish tip; under parts 
not strongly buff. 
g. Much rufous on both outer and inner webs of inner 
primaries 
g'. Without rufous on wing quills 
Coccyzus americanus (Linnaeus). 
Cucitliis iiJiicricaints L.. Syst. Xat. ed. 10. 1758. p. iii. 
Coci'y::its anicricaiius Berlepsch <S; Hartert, p. 96. 
Two of the cuckoos sent to the Tring Museum were identified by 
^Tessrs. Berlepsch and Hartert. as C. americanus; one. a female, was 
