2L4 CUCKOOS. leisure. The loud rolling call was apparently littered only when on the wing, but when at, rest, or feeding. there was a low conversational murmur of halt'-artieulate, querulous notes and ‘alls.

0f their roosting habits I can say little or nothing. Late one morning (March 15th) we found a flock of eight birds resting on a tall, dead cypress near the center of the " hunnnoek " on the river’s bank. On a. previous expedition my guide had observed them in this same tree, which vas evidently a favorite midday haunt, and it is not impos- sible they may have roosted in the hole we discovered near its top.

ORDER COCCYGES. CUCKOOS, KINGFISHERS, ETC.

FAMILY CUCULIDZE. CUeKoos. ANIs, ETC.

()1in thirty-five of the some one hundred and seventy—five known species of t'uckoos are found in the New World, and they are largely confined to the tropics.

(fuekoos as a rule are rather solitary birds inhabiting wooded areas. The Anis. however, are always gregarious and live in open places. Their flight is w \ak, generally from tree to tree, and their feet are largely used as a means of progression. Some species hop, others walk. and one is celebrated for his speed as a runner. The; are pos- sessed ot‘ peculiar vocal powers, and their strange calls are frequently the origin of their popular names. Many species are remarkable for the irregularity of their breeding habits. The Old-World Cuckoo (Cu— rulus canorzm). like our Cowbird, deposits its eggs in the nests of other birds. and leaves to them the duties of incubation and rearing 0f the young. The Anis are communistic, and build but one nest. in which several females lay and share the task of incubation. The smaller species are insectivorous, but the larger ones add small reptiles and batrachians to their fare.

386. Coccyzus minor (Cine/{L Maynnovn Crekoo. Adgtlpper parts brownish gray. grayer on the head. with glossy reflections: wings and middle pair of tail-feathers like the lvtll'kl outer tailAt't-athers black. broadly tipped with white: car-eoverts Marl: bill blaek. the lower mandible yellow except at the tip: under parts m-hraceous—luttl'. I... 124m»; “K, 5'40; T.’ “'50; B. from N. "O.

[fang/e. wtlreater Antilles. west coast of ('entral America. northward to Coast of Gulf States (3 I ; \vest eoast of Florida.

AVA-t. a platform of" sticks. in low trees and bushes. [Lil/(IS, three to four greenish blue,

This bird is apparently a rare summer resident on the Gulf coast

of Florida. but its relationships in this region to the following race are not known.