*_Coccyzus americanus americanus_ (Linnaeus).--_Specimens examined:_
total 2: [Male] [Male] 32037-32038 from 12 mi. N, 12 mi. W Jimenez, 850
ft., June 19, 1952, measurements: wing, 141, 146 mm.; tail, 142, 149
mm.; tarsus, 27, 27 mm.; culmen, 25, 24 mm.
In Coahuila, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo seems to be uncommon. It occurs
in the northeastern section of the State, in the Gulf Coastal Plain
(Baker, 1956:128), and probably breeds there. One subspecies,
_americanus_, has been recorded from Coahuila.
According to Ridgway (1916:13-17) the difference between _C. a.
americanus_ and _C. a. occidentalis_ is size. His (_loc. cit._) average
measurements of males of _occidentalis_ are: wing, 149.6 mm.; tail,
147.1 mm.; tarsus, 26.7 mm.; and culmen, 27.7 mm. whereas average
measurements given by him of males of _americanus_ are: wing, 143.6
mm.; tail, 140.7 mm.; tarsus, 25.2 mm.; and culmen, 26.4 mm. Van Tyne
and Sutton (1937:35) question the value of maintaining the subspecies
_occidentalis_, because individuals of _americanus_ and _occidentalis_
are almost impossible to tell apart. Friedmann, Griscom, and Moore
(1950:132) stated that _americanus_ occurs in eastern North America
whereas _occidentalis_ occurs in western North America. If the
subspecies _occidentalis_ exists, then Nos. 32037 and 32038 are, by
size, _americanus_ and No. 32038 is an intergrade between the two
subspecies (or a large individual of _americanus_).
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo was seen also by Findley 2 mi. S and 3 mi. E
San Juan de Sabinas on June 22, 1952, and by Dickerson at Torreon on
July 2, 1955. The sizes of the testes of the birds from 12 mi. N and 12
mi. W Jimenez (9, 10 mm. long) and the date (June 19) on which they
occurred there indicate that the birds possibly were breeding.
_Coccyzus erythropthalmus_ (Wilson).--Miller (1955a:163) reported a
migrant Black-billed Cuckoo taken in the maples and basswood near a
water hole in the bottom of Boquillas Canyon in the Sierra del Carmen,
5200 feet, on April 22. Friedmann, Griscom, and Moore (1950:132)
reported that this cuckoo is presumably a regular transient in Mexico,
but generally overlooked.
*_Geococcyx californianus_ (Lesson).--_Specimen examined:_ one,
[Female] 32049, from 8 mi. N, 2 mi. W Piedras Negras, June 18, 1952.
Miller (1955a:163) heard several Roadrunners calling at Boquillas
Canyon in the Sierra del Carmen, where he obtained two females.
Burleigh and Lowery (1942:190) stated that the species proved to be
"unexpectedly scarce" and was noted but once by them on April 22 when a
single bird was observed in "the open desert west of Saltillo." Sutton
and Burleigh (1939a:30) noted that the Roadrunner was not common
anywhere in southern Coahuila; they obtained one female at San Pedro on
January 29. The size of the largest ovum (15 mm. in diameter) of No.
32040 indicates that this species breeds in Coahuila.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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