76 
U. S. P. R. R EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
The following synopsis will serve to distinguish the North American species of Coccygus, all 
of them being of a light greenish color, tinged with ashy towards the head : 
A. Beneath nearly pure white. 
Under mandible yellow. Tail feathers black, broadly and conspicuously tipped with 
white ; of which color also is the outer web of outer feather. All the quills with the 
concealed portion orange cinnamon. G . americanus. 
Under mandible black. Tail feathers beneath greyish, narrowly and indistinctly 
tipped with white ; the outer weh of outer feathers not white, nor the concealed 
portion of the quills orange cinnamon.... C. erythrophthalmus. 
B. Beneath strongly tinged with yellowish cinnamon. 
Tail feathers black, broadly tipped with white, the outer not margined externally. An 
elongated patch of brown behind the eye. Under mandible yellow, except at tip. 
C. seniculus. 
The following table exhibits the comparative proportions of the three species: 
Catal. 
No. 
Species. 
Locality. 
Sex. 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
Middle 
toe. 
Its claw 
alone. 
Bill 
above. 
Along 
gape. 
Specimen 
measured. 
5623 
Republican river. 
8 
12.00 
16.50 
12.00 
5.90 
6.64 
1.06 
0.98 
0.30 
1.00 
1.20 
1541 
8 
11.40 
16.50 
5.15 
10.50 
5.44 
5.64 
0.90 
1.00 
0.46 
1.06 
1.24 
8981 
8 
12.37 
16.25 
5.75 
11.66 
5 60 
6.70 
0.96 
0.96 
0.28 
1 00 
1.12 
8979 
9 
12.00 
16.00 
5.50 
12.00 
5.60 
6.70 
0.96 
0.96 
0 30 
1.00 
1 20 
391 
r? 
11.30 
5.12 
6.24 
0 90 
1.00 
0.30 
1.00 
1.12 
1854 
Key West. 
12.04 
5.00 
6.88 
1.00 
1.00 
0.30 
1.10 
1.20 
Skin .... 
COCCYGUS AMERICANUS, Bonap. 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 
Cucxdus americanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 170, 10. 
Coccyzus americanus, Bon. Obs, Wilson, 1825, No. 47.— Ib. Conspectus, 1850, IV.— Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 18, V: 
520, pi. 2 .—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 293, pi. 275. 
Erythrophrys americanus, Sw. Birds, II, 1837.— Bon. List, 1838. 
Cureus americanus, Bon. List Eur. Birds, 1842. 
? Cuculus dominicensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 170, 13. 
? Cuculus dominicus , Latham, Syst. I, 1790, 221, (considered distinct by Bonaparte.) 
Cuculus carolinensis, (Brisson,) W4lson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 13, pi. xxviii. 
Cuculus cinerosus, Temminck, Man. IV, 1835, 277. 
Coccyzus pyrrhopterus, Vieill. Diet. 
S P . Ch. —Upper mandible and tip of lower, black ; rest of lower mandible and cutting edges of the upper yellow. Upper parts 
of a metallic greenish olive, slightly tinged with ash towards the bill ; beneath white. Tail feathers, (except the median, 
which are like the back,) black, tipped with white for about an inch on the outer feathers, the external one with the outer edge 
almost entirely white. Quills orange cinnamon ; the terminal portion and a gloss on the outer webs olive ; iris brown. Length 
12 inches ; wing 5.95 ; tail 6.35. 
Hal). —Eastern United States to the Missouri plains. 
This species is easily known by the yellow under mandible, the black under surface of the tail 
feathers with the broad and well defined black tip, and the bright orange brown of the covered 
