Obs. This species much resembles in colors and general appearance the Dusky Albatross (_Diomedea fuliginosa_, Gm., which is _D. fusca_, Aud.), but may at once be distinguished by the color of the feet, which in the present bird are black, and in the other yellow. In _D. fuliginosa_, the tail is much longer and wedge-shaped, and the upper mandible extends in a point into the plumage of the head in front, instead of being as above described in the species now before us. It is a species apparently peculiar to the western coast of America; but as illustrative of the very extensive range of these birds, we may mention that several species, which are common on the Pacific coast of this continent, are also met with on the shores of Australia. The Great Wandering Albatross, the Dusky Albatross, and the Yellow-nosed Albatross (_D. exulans fuliginosa_ and _chlorhynchus_), are given as birds of that continent in Mr. Gould’s magnificent work, “The Birds of Australia,” and are now well known to be inhabitants of the western shores of the continent of America. [Illustration: Plate 36 The Ground Cuckoo Geococcyx mexicanus (_Gmelin_)] GEOCOCCYX MEXICANUS.—(Gmelin.) The Ground Cuckoo. The Prairie Cock. The Paisano. The Corre-camino. PLATE XXXVI. Adult Male. Of the many birds of Western America, the history of which has been brought to light by the recent researches of our countrymen and fellow-laborers in the great field of zoological science, that now before the reader is one of the most curious and interesting. Its existence has been known to naturalists since the time of Hernandez, who, as early as 1651, in his “New History of the Plants, Animals, and Minerals of Mexico,” gives a short account of it, as one of the most remarkable of the birds that came under his observation. Though partially known for so long a period, and having received various names from European naturalists, who have described specimens met with in museums, there was extant no satisfactory account of this bird previous to the incorporation of countries which it inhabits with the confederacy of the United States, and the consequent facilities afforded to the investigations of American naturalists.