The Bird Book/Cuckoos, Anis, etc

CUCKOOS, TROGANS, KINGFISHERS, ETC. Order XIV. CUCKOOS, ANIS, ETC. Family CUCULIDAE

[383.] ANI. Crotophaga ani.

Range. Northeastern South America and the West Indies; casual in Florida, and along the Gulf coast; accidental in Pennsylvania.

This species is similar to the next, but the bill is smoother and without grooves.. Its nesting habits are the same as those of the more common American species.

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16

ROADRUNNER

CUCKOOS, ETC.

384. GROOVE-BILLED ANI.

Crotophaga sulcirostris.

Range. Mexico and the border of the United States; common in southern Texas. This odd species has a Cuckoo-like form, but is wholly blue black in color, and has a high thin bill with three conspicuous longitudinal grooves on each side. They build large bulky nests of twigs, lined with leaves and grasses, and located in low trees and bushes. They build in small colonies but do not, as is claimed of the common Ani, build a large nest for several to occupy. They lay from

three to five eggs of a greenish blue color, covered with a chalky white deposit. Size 1.25 x 1.00. They are laid in May or June.

38+.

385.

Road Runner Groove-billed Ani

385. ROAD-RUNNER. Geococcyx calif ornianus.

Range. Western United States from Oregon, Colorado and Kansas, southward; most abundant on the Mexican border, and wintering in central Mexico.

This curious species is known as the "Chaparral Cock," "Ground Cuckoo," "Snake-killer," etc. Its upper parts are a glossy greenish brown, each feather being edged or fringed with whitish; the tail is very long, broad and graduated, the feathers v A being broadly tipped with white. They are noted fo~ their swiftness on foot, paddling over the aeroplanes; their legs are long and have two toes front and two back. Their food consists of lizards
 * y ground at an astonishing rate, aided by their out^ |>' stretched wings and spread tail, which act as

QHJ and small snakes, they being particularly savage

White in their attacks upon the latter. They build rude

nests of sticks and twigs, in low trees or bushes,

and during April or May, lay from four to ten eggs, depositing them at intervals of several days. They are pure white and measure 1.55 x 1.20.

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THE BIRD BOOK

386.

Mangrove Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

386. MANGROVE CUCKOO.

Coccyzus minor minor.

Range. West Indies, Mexico and South America, north regularly to southern Florida.

This species is very similar to our common Yellow-billed Cuckoo, but the whole underparts are deep buff. It is a common species and nests abundantly in the West Indies, but occurs only in limited numbers in southern Florida. Their nests are shallow platforms of twigs and rootlets, placed in bushes and low trees, and upon which they lay three or four pale greenish blue eggs, similar to those of the Yellow-billed species but averaging smaller; size 1.15 x .85.

[386a.] MAYNARD'S CUCKOO.

Coccyzus minor maynardi.

Light greenish blue

Range. Bahamas; accidental on Florida Keys, and paler form than the preceding.

This is a slightly smaller

387. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. Coccyzus americanus americanus.

Range. United States east of the Plains and from southern Canada southward.

This species is generally abundant in all localities in its range, which afford suitable nesting places of tangled underbrush or vines. It may be distinguished from the Black-billed variety by its larger size (12 inches long), blackish tail with broad white tips, and yellowish lower mandible. They are often regarded

by the superstitious as forecasters of rain, and as omens, probably because of their gutteral croaking notes.

Their nests are made of twigs, lined with shreds of grape vine bark or catkins; the nests are generally very shabbily made and so flat on the top that the eggs frequently roll off. They are located near the ground in bushes or low trees. The three or four eggs are deposited at intervals of several days, and frequently young birds and eggs are found in the nest at the same time. Like the Flicker, this bird will frequently continue laying if one egg is removed at a time, and as many as twelve have been taken from the same nest, by this means. The eggs are light greenish blue. Size 1.20 x .90. They are usually laid during May or June.

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Pale greenish blue

A. R. Spaid NEST ANP EGGS OF YELLO \V-BlLJvEp CUCKOO

THE BIRD BOOK

387a. CALIFORNIA CUCKOO.

Coccyzus americanus occidentalis.

Range. Western North America, from British Columbia, southward.

Slightly larger and with a stouter bill than the last. Eggs not distinguishable.

388. BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus.

Range. United States east of the Rocky Mountains; north to Labrador and Manitoba; south in winter to Central and South America.

This species is rather more common in the northern part of the United States than the Yellow - billed variety. The bird is smaller, has a blackish bill, and the tail is the same color as the back and only slight

Greenish blue

similar locations and of the same materials as used by the Yellow-bill; the three or four eggs are smaller and a darker shade of greenish blue. Size 1.15 x .85. All the Cuckoos are close sitters and will not leave the nest until nearly reached with the hand, when they will slowly nutter off through the underbrush, and continue to utter their mournful "Kuk-kuk-kuk," many times repeated.

[388.1.] KAMCHATKA CUCKOO. Cuculus canorus telephonus.

An Asiatic subspecies of the common European Cuckoo, accidentally occurring in Alaska.