A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2

Hab. United States to the Missouri plains, south to Bogota. Localities: Cuba (Cab. J. IV, 154, nests; Gundl. Repert. I, 1866, 295); Guatemala (Salvin, Ibis, II, 276); Mexico and Bogota (Scl. Cat. 323); Isth. Panama (Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VII, 62); Costa Rica (Lawr. N. Y. Lyc. IX, 128).

This species differs from the C. americanus in the black bill, and the absence of black on the tail-feathers, the white tips of which are much shorter and less abruptly defined. One specimen (5,253) from the Upper Missouri has a much stronger tinge of yellowish-cinnamon on the inner webs of the quills than the others. The sexes are quite similar.

Habits. The Black-billed Cuckoo, so closely allied with the common species in respect to size, appearance, habits, and all its general characteristics, is also distributed throughout very nearly the same localities, where, however, it is usually regarded as a much less abundant bird. It is found throughout the United States as far west as the Missouri plains. Dr. Woodhouse met with this bird in his expedition down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers, but states that he saw but very few, either in Texas or in the Indian Territory. Lembeye, De la Sagra, and Dr. Gundlach include it as a visitant, in the winter months, to Cuba. Mr. Audubon met with this Cuckoo in Louisiana only a few times in the course of his various researches, and never in any Western State except Ohio. He does not seem to have been aware that it ever breeds south of North Carolina. From thence to Maine, and even as far north as the Canadas, Nova Scotia, and Southern Labrador, he gives as its distribution during the breeding-season. He also regarded it as much more common in low and wooded ground on the borders of the sea, where it frequents the edges of woods rather than their interior, and chiefly on the edges of creeks, and in damp places. Mr. Nuttall appeared to have regarded it as very nearly as common as the Yellow-bill throughout the United States, and as extending its migrations as far north as Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. He states that it is found in St. Domingo and Guiana, and also, on the authority of Mr. Abbott, that it breeds in Georgia as early as the 1st of April. Mr. Audubon says it was never met with by Dr. Bachman in South Carolina. It certainly breeds, however, as far south, at least, as Georgia, as the nest and eggs of this species were taken at Varnell Station, in the northwestern part of that State, by the late Dr. Alexander Gerhardt.

It is not mentioned by either Dr. Gambel or Dr. Heermann as among the birds of the Pacific Coast, and it does not appear to have been actually obtained by any of the expeditions to the Pacific beyond the Indian Territory. Its distribution, therefore, during the breeding-season, would seem to be from Georgia to Canada, and from Texas to Minnesota, inclusive of all the intermediate territory. Dr. Newberry frequently saw and heard what he supposed to have been this species, in the trees bordering Cow Creek, near Fort Reading, but as he did not secure a specimen, he may have been mistaken. It has been taken at Devil’s Lake, in Minnesota, and in the Red River Settlement.

Wilson describes the nest of this bird as generally built in a cedar, much in the same manner, and of nearly the same materials, as that of the Yellow-bill; the eggs are smaller than those of that bird, usually four or five in number, and of a deeper greenish-blue.

Mr. Audubon speaks of the nest as built in places similar to those chosen by the other species, as formed of the same materials, and arranged with quite as little art. He gives the number of eggs as from four to six, of a greenish-blue, nearly equal at both ends, but rather smaller than those of the Yellow-bill, rounder, and of a much deeper tint of green. He gives their measurement as 1.50 inches in length and .87 of an inch in breadth.

Mr. Nuttall, whose description more nearly corresponds with my own observations, speaks of this species as usually retiring into the woods to breed, being less familiar than the former species, and choosing an evergreen bush or sapling for the site of the nest, which is made of twigs pretty well put together, but still little more than a concave flooring, and lined with moss occasionally, and withered catkins of the hickory. The eggs are described as smaller, and three to five in number, of a bluish-green. The female sits very close on the nest, admitting a near approach before flying. He also speaks of this species as being less timorous than the Yellow-billed, and states that near the nest, with young, he has observed the parent composedly sit and plume itself for a considerable time without showing any alarm at his presence.

In all the instances in which I have observed the nest of this species, I have invariably found it in retired damp places, usually near the edges of woods, and built, not in trees, after the manner of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, but in bushes and in low shrubbery, often not more than two or three feet from the ground. The nest, without being at all remarkable for its finish, or the nicety of its arrangement, is much more artistic and elaborate than that of the Yellow-bill. It is composed of twigs, roots, fine strips of bark, and moss, and is sometimes interwoven and partially lined with the soft catkins of trees and blossoms of plants. The eggs vary from three to six in number, and are often found to have been deposited, and incubation commenced on them, at irregular intervals, and to be in various stages of development in the same nest. I have hardly been able to observe a sufficient number of their nests to be able to state whether this species carries this irregularity so far as the Yellow-bill, nor am I aware that it has ever been known to extend its incubations into so late a period of the season. It is, if anything, more devoted to its offspring than the Yellow-bill. Both parents are assiduous in the duties of incubation, and in supplying food to each other and to their offspring. In one instance, where the female had been shot by a thoughtless boy, as she flew from the nest, the male bird successfully devoted himself to the solitary duty of rearing the brood of five. At the time of the death of the female the nest contained two eggs and three young birds. The writer was present when the bird was shot, and was unable to interpose in season to prevent it. Returning to the spot not long afterwards, he found the widowed male sitting upon the nest, and so unwilling to leave it as almost to permit himself to be captured by the hand. His fidelity and his entreaties were not disregarded. His nest, eggs, and young, were left undisturbed; and, as they were visited from time to time, the young nestlings were found to thrive under his vigilant care. The eggs were hatched out, and in time the whole five were reared in safety. This single incident shows how wide is the interval between these Cuckoos and their European namesakes.

The egg resembles that of the other, but is more spherical and of a much darker shade of green. The color is equally fugitive, and even in a closed cabinet fades so that the eggs of the two species are undistinguishable, except in size and shape. This egg averages 1.10 inches in length by .90 of an inch in breadth.

Genus CROTOPHAGA, Linnæus

Crotophaga, Linnæus, Systema Naturæ, 1756. (Type, C. ani, Linn.).

Gen. Char. Bill as long as the head, very much compressed; the culmen elevated into a high crest, extending above the level of the forehead. Nostrils exposed, elongated. Point of bill much decurved. Wings lengthened, extending beyond the base of the tail, the fourth or fifth quill longest. Tail lengthened, of eight graduated feathers. Toes long, with well-developed claws.

The feathers in this genus are entirely black; those on the head and neck with a peculiar stiffened metallic or scale-like border. The species are not numerous, and are entirely confined to America.

Crotophaga ani.

8639 ♂

Of Crotophaga, two species have heretofore been recognized in the United States, C. ani and C. rugirostris. We are, however, satisfied that there is but one here and in the West Indies, C. ani (extending to South America). C. major of South America, and C. sulcirostris, found from Mexico southward, are the other species, and are easily distinguishable by the following characters among others:—

C. major. 122 Length, 17.00; wing, 7.50; outline of culmen abruptly angulated in the middle. Hab. Brazil and Trinidad.

C. ani. Length, 13.00 to 15.00; wing, 6.00; culmen gently curved from base. Bill smooth or with a few transverse wrinkles. Hab. Northeastern South America, West Indies, and South Florida.

C. sulcirostris. 123 Length, 12.00; wing, 5.00; culmen gently curved. Bill with several grooves parallel to culmen. Hab. Middle America, from Yucatan, south to Ecuador.

Crotophaga ani, LinnTHE ANI; THE SAVANNA BLACKBIRD

Crotophaga ani, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 154.—Burmeister, Th. Bras. (Vögel.) 1856, 254.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 72, pl. lxxxiv, f. 2.—Cabanis, Mus. Hein. IV, 100. Crotophaga minor, Less. Traité Orn. 1831, 130. Crotophaga lævirostra, Swainson, An. in Menag. 2¼ Cent. 1838, 321. Crotophaga rugirostra, Swainson, 2¼ Cent. 1838, 321, fig. 65, bill.—Burm. Th. Bras. II, 1856, 235.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 71, pl. lxxxiv, f. 1.

Crotophaga ani.

Sp. Char. Bill at the nostrils nearly twice as high as broad; the nostrils elliptical, a little oblique, situated in the middle of the lower half of the upper mandible. Gonys nearly straight. Indications of faint transverse wrinkles along the upper portion of the bill, nearly perpendicular to the culmen. Legs stout; tarsus longer than middle toe, with seven broad scutellæ anteriorly extending round to the middle of each side; the remaining or posterior portion of each side with a series of quadrangular plates, corresponding nearly to the anterior ones, the series meeting behind in a sharp ridge. The wings reach over the basal third of the tail. The primary quills are broad and acute, the fourth longest; the first about equal to the tertials. The tail is graduated, the outer about an inch and a half shorter than the middle ones.

The color generally is black, with steel-blue reflections above, changing sometimes into violet; duller beneath. The pointed feathers of the head, neck, and breast, with a bronzy metallic border, appearing also to some extent on the wing-coverts and upper part of back. Iris brown. Length, 13.20; wing, 6.00; tail, 8.30; tarsus, 1.48.

Hab. West Indies; South Florida. Accidental near Philadelphia. Localities: Sta. Cruz (Newton, Ibis, I, 148).

As already remarked, we do not find reason to admit more than one species of Crotophaga in the United States and the West Indies, as in the great variation in size, and to some extent in shape of bill, there is nothing constant. The species can hardly be considered more than a straggler in the United States, although a considerable number of specimens have been seen or taken within its limits. That in the Smithsonian collection was killed on the Tortugas; but there is one in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, killed near Philadelphia by Mr. John Krider, and presented by him. Mr. Audubon also possessed a pair said to have been killed near New Orleans.

Habits. This species, the common Savanna Blackbird of the West India Islands, is probably only an accidental visitant of the United States, and may not strictly belong to the avi-fauna of North America.

It is common throughout the West Indies, and in South America as far south as Brazil. Gosse states it to be one of the most abundant birds of Jamaica. In speaking of its breeding habits he mentions that it was universally maintained by the inhabitants that these birds unite and build in company an immense nest of basket-work, made by the united labors of the flock. This is said to be placed on a high tree, where many parents bring forth and educate a common family. This statement is reiterated by Mr. Hill, who says that a small flock of about six individuals build but one large and capacious nest, to which they resort in common, and rear their young together.

In July Mr. Gosse found the nest of one of these birds in a guazuma tree. It was a large mass of interwoven twigs, and was lined with leaves. There were eight eggs in the nest, and the shells of many others were scattered beneath the tree.

Mr. Newton found these birds very common in St. Croix. He mentions meeting with a nest of this species June 17. It was about five feet from the ground, on a large tamarind-tree. He speaks of it as a rude collection of sticks and twigs, large and deep, partly filled with dry leaves, among which were fourteen eggs, and around the margin were stuck upright a few dead twigs of tamarind. Five days afterwards he went to the nest, where he found but nine eggs, two of which he took. Three days later he found but four eggs in the nest, it having been robbed in the interim; but six days afterwards the number had again been increased to eight. He never found the eggs covered up as if intentionally done. The nest was evidently common property. There were generally two or three birds sitting close to or on it, and up in the tree perhaps four or five more, who would continue screeching all the time he was there. Mr. Newton adds that when the egg is fresh the cretaceous deposit on the shell is very soft and easily scored, but it soon hardens. It is mentioned in De Sagra’s list as one of the common birds of Cuba.

Mr. J. F. Hamilton, in his interesting paper (Ibis, July, 1871) on the birds of Brazil, mentions finding this species very common at Santo Paulo. There was scarcely an open piece of ground where there were but few bushes that had not its flock of these birds. They were especially fond of marshy ground. They were also often to be seen running about among a herd of cattle, picking up the insects disturbed by the animals. They seemed utterly regardless of danger, and would scarcely do more than flit from one bush to another, even when the numbers of their flock were being greatly thinned. When concealed in the long grass, they would allow themselves to be almost trodden on before rising. The Brazilians seldom molest them, as their flesh is not good to eat.

This bird is known as the Black Witch in St. Croix,—a name Mr. Newton supposes to be due to its peculiar call-note, which sounds like que-yuch. Its familiar habits and its grotesque appearance make it universally known. It is a favorite object of attack to the Chickaree Flycatcher, in which encounters it is apt to lose its presence of mind, and to be forced to make an ignominious retreat.

These birds are said to be attracted by collections of cattle and horses, upon the bodies of which they are often seen to alight, feeding upon the ticks with which they are infested. They are at once familiar and wary, permitting a limited acquaintance, but a too near approach sets the whole flock in motion. It moves in a very peculiar gliding flight. In feeding it is omnivorous; besides insects of all kinds, such as ticks, grasshoppers, beetles, etc., it eats berries of various kinds, lizards, and other kinds of food. It catches insects on the ground by very active jumps, pursues them on the wing, and with its sharp thin bill digs them out in the earth. They hop about and over the bodies of cattle, especially when they are lying down, and when grazing they have been observed clinging to a cow’s tail, picking insects from it as far down even as its extremity.

Mr. Hill states that these birds are downward, not upward, climbers. They enter a tree by alighting on the extremity of some main branch, and reach its centre by creeping along the stem, and seldom penetrate far among the leaves.

The eggs of this species are of a regularly oval shape, equally obtuse at either end. In color they are of a uniform light-blue, with a very slight tinge of green. This is usually covered, but not entirely concealed, by a white cretaceous coating. When fresh, this may readily be rubbed off, but becomes hard and not easily removed. The eggs vary in size from 1.40 to 1.50 inches in length, and in breadth from 1.10 to 1.15 inches.

Family PICIDÆ.—The Woodpeckers

Char. Outer toe turned backwards permanently, not versatile laterally, the basal portion of the tongue capable of great protrusion.

The preceding characters combined appear to express the essential characters of the Picidæ. In addition, it may be stated that the tongue itself is quite small, flat, and short, acute and horny, usually armed along the edges with recurved hooks. The horns of the hyoid apparatus are generally very long, and curve round the back of the skull, frequently to the base of the bill, playing in a sheath, when the tongue is thrown forward out of the mouth to transfix an insect.

There are twelve tail-feathers, of which the outer is, however, very small and rudimentary (lying concealed between the outer and adjacent feathers), so that only ten are usually counted. The tail is nearly even, or cuneate, never forked, the shafts very rigid in the true Woodpeckers; soft in Picumninæ and Yunginæ. The outer primary is generally very short, or spurious, but not wanting. The bill is chisel or wedge shaped, with sharp angles and ridges and straight culmen; sometimes the culmen is a little curved, in which case it is smoother, and without the ridges. The tarsi in the North American forms are covered with large plates anteriorly, posteriorly with small ones, usually more or less polygonal. The claws are compressed, much curved, very strong and acute.

The Picidæ are found all over the world with the exception of Madagascar, Australia, the Moluccas, and Polynesia. America is well provided with them, more than half of the described species belonging to the New World.

The subfamilies of the Picidæ may be most easily distinguished as follows, although other characters could readily be given:—

Picinæ. Tail-feathers pointed, and lanceolate at end; the shafts very rigid, thickened and elastic.

Picumninæ. Tail soft and short, about half the length of wing; the feathers without stiffened shafts, rather narrow, linear, and rounded at end.

Yunginæ. Tail soft and rather long, about three fourths the length of wing; the feathers broad, and obtusely rounded at end.

Of these subfamilies the Picinæ alone occur north of Mexico. The Yunginæ, to which the well-known Wryneck of England (Jynx torquilla) belongs, are exclusively Old World; the Picumninæ belong principally to the tropical regions of America, although a few species occur in Africa and India. One species, Picumnus micromegas, Sundevall, belongs to St. Domingo, although erroneously assigned to Brazil. This is the giant of the group, being about the size of the White-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) the other species being mostly very diminutive, varying from three to four inches in length.

Subfamily PICINÆ

The diagnosis on the preceding page will serve to distinguish this group from its allies, without the necessity of going into greater detail. It includes by far the largest percentage of the Picidæ, and in the great variations of form has been variously subdivided by authors into sections. Professor Sundevall, in his able monograph,124 establishes the following four series, referring all to the single genus Picus:—

I. Angusticolles. Neck slender, elongated. Nostrils concealed by bristles. Tail-feathers black or brownish, immaculate.

II. Securirostres. Neck not slender, and shorter. Nostrils concealed by bristles. Bill stout, cuneate, with the nasal ridges widely distant from each other.

III. Ligonirostres. Neck not slender. Nostrils covered, nasal ridges of bill placed near the culmen (or at least nearer it than the lower edge of the upper mandible), for the most part obsolete anteriorly.

IV. Nudinares. Nostrils open, uncovered by bristly hairs. Neck and bill various.

Of these series, the first and second correspond with Piceæ, as given below, while Centureæ and Colapteæ both belong to Ligonirostres. The Nudinares are not represented in North America, and by only one group, Celeus, in any portion of the continent.

In the following account of the Picinæ, we shall not pretend to discuss the relationship of the North American species to the Picinæ in general, referring to Sundevall’s work, and the monographs of Malherbe and Cassin, for information on the subject. For our present purposes they may be conveniently, even if artificially, arranged in the following sections:—

Piceæ. Bill variable in length; the outlines above and below nearly straight; the ends truncated; a prominent ridge on the side of the mandible springing from the middle of the base, or a little below, and running out either on the commissure, or extending parallel to and a little above it, to the end, sometimes obliterated or confluent with the lateral bevel of the bill. Nostrils considerably overhung by the lateral ridge, more or less linear, and concealed by thick bushy tufts of feathers at the base of the bill. Outer posterior toe generally longer than the anterior.

Centureæ. Bill rather long; the outlines, that of the culmen especially, decidedly curved. The lateral ridge much nearest the culmen, and, though quite distinct at the base, disappearing before coming to the lower edge of the mandible; not overhanging the nostrils, which are broadly oval, rounded anteriorly, and not concealed by the bristly feathers at the base. Outer pair of toes nearly equal; the anterior rather longer.

Colapteæ. Bill rather long, much depressed, and the upper outline much curved to the acutely pointed (not truncate) tip. The commissure considerably curved. Bill without any ridges. The nostrils broadly oval, and much exposed. Anterior outer toe longest.

PLATE XLVIII.

1. Geococcyx californianus ♂ Cal., 12925.

2. Crotophaga ani. ♀ Fla., 8639.

3. Coccygus americanus. ♂ Penn., 1541.

4. Coccygus minor.

5. Coccygus erythrophthalmus. 27028.

The preceding diagnoses will serve to distinguish the three groups sufficiently for our present purposes; the bill being strongest in the Picinæ and best fitted for cutting into trees by its more perfect wedge-shape, with strengthening ridges, as well as by the lateral bevelling of both mandibles, which are nearly equal in thickness at the base, and with their outlines nearly straight. The lateral ridge is prominent, extending to the edge or end of the bill, and overhangs the nostrils, which are narrow and hidden. The Centureæ and the Colapteæ have the upper mandible more curved (the commissure likewise), the lower mandible smaller and weaker, the bill with little or no lateral bevelling. The nostrils are broadly oval and exposed. In the former, however, there is a distinct lateral ridge visible for a short distance from the base of the bill; while in the other there is no ridge at all, and the mandible is greatly curved.