This is a widely-spread form of Cuckoo in Central and South America, and reaches the northern territories of the Argentine Republic, having been obtained by Durnford near Tucuman, and by White in Misiones. The whole bird is about 18 inches long, and the tail very long in proportion, about 11 inches. The entire plumage, except the breast and belly, which are grey, is chestnut colour. The beak is very strong, and yellowish green in colour; the irides, ruby-red, the eyelids scarlet. In Colombia this Cuckoo is said to be called _Pajaro ardilla_ (Squirrel-bird), from its chestnut tint. It seems to feed chiefly, if not altogether, on the ground, and when perched always appears awkward and ill-at-ease. On a branch it sits motionless, until approached, and then creeps away through the leaves and escapes on the opposite side of the tree. This, however, is a habit common to most Cuckoos. Its language is a loud screaming cry, on account of which the Brazilians call it _Alma do gato_, implying that it possesses the soul of a cat. It is a very shy retiring bird, and in this respect is more like a _Coccyzus_ than a _Guira_. For these facts we are indebted to Léotaud, Fraser, Forbes, White, and others; each of these observers having contributed a few words to a history of this interesting bird's habits. 271. COCCYZUS AMERICANUS (Linn.). (YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO.) +Coccyzus americanus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 108; _Sclater, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 490 (Buenos Ayres); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora). _Description._--Above grey; ear-coverts blackish; wings in interior rufous, which shows more or less externally: beneath white, greyish on the throat; tail-feathers, except the two central which are like the back, black broadly tipped with white; bill with the lower mandible orange-yellow, except at the tip: whole length 12·0 inches, wing 5·7, tail 5·7. _Female_ similar. _Hab._ North and Central America and Colombia; occasional in Brazil and Argentina. This is a well-known inhabitant of the United States, where it is a regular summer visitant, passing the winter months in Central America and the West Indies, and being also occasionally met with during this season in Brazil. In the Argentine Republic it is very rare, and the few specimens found were all seen late in the autumn, after other summer visitors had left. I can only account for the lateness of these birds on the supposition that, being low fliers, excessively shy, and eminently forest birds, they shrunk from traversing the wide open plains which offer no kind of shelter or protection, and so remained in the isolated plantations which rise like little islands of greenery in the sea-like level of the pampas. 272. COCCYZUS MELANOCORYPHUS, Vieill. (BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO.)