Bill about the length of the head, or not longer; curved. Loral feathers soft. Legs weak, tarsus shorter than the toes. Arboreal … Coccygus.
Bill longer than the head; straight. Loral feathers stiff, bristly. Tarsi much longer than the toes. Terrestrial … Geococcyx.
Crotophaginæ. Face naked. Bill much compressed, with a sharp crest. Tail of eight feathers. Bill shorter than and nearly as high as the head … Crotophaga.
Subfamily COCCYGINÆ.
Genus GEOCOCCYX, Wagler.
Geococcyx, Wagler, Isis, 1831, 524.
Leptostoma, Swainson, Classification Birds, II, 1837, 325.
Gen. Char. Bill long and strong, slightly compressed, and at least as long as the head; head crested; loral feathers, and those at base of bill, stiffened and bristly. Nostrils elongated, linear. A naked colored skin around and behind the eye; the eyelids ciliated. Tarsi longer than the toes; very stout. Wings very short and concave; the tertials as long as the primaries. Tail longer than the head and body; composed of ten narrow, much graduated feathers.
Geococcyx californianus.
12925 ♂