CUCKOOS. 373 



birds, hiding from the mid-day heats under the sheltered portions of dense foliage near 

 the centre of a large tree. Whilst yet undisturbed, the crest lies flat on the head, 

 and can only be seen as a tuft projecting from the occiput. But their first act on 

 becoming aware of an intruder is to run along the branches, either to the summit of 

 the tree, or to the extremity of a branch commanding a good look-out, where, with 

 crest fully erected and well thrown forward, they keep up a constant reiteration of 

 their note. If but little alarmed, they move rapidly from branch to branch, frequently 

 jerking up the crest, and assuming an attitude of attention. Again, after flight from 

 one tree to another, on alighting, they first rest on a branch, with the body somewhat 

 horizontal and the tail drawn nearly to the perpendicular, as if assuring themselves of 

 their equilibrium, and then, raising the body, elongating their neck, and, at the same 

 time, elevating the crest, they seem to take an observation as to the security of their 

 new position. So much is this a habit of the bird, that, during the conversational 

 difficulties of my earlier intercourse with the Betchuanas, when inquiring for the nest 

 of CJiizcerhis (the native name of which is 'Ma-quaai'), as soon as it dawned upon 

 the mind of a native what bird I meant, he has imitated its note, accompanied by a 

 sudden jerking up of the hand, with his fingers extended to the utmost, as if at the 

 same time to mimic the elevation of the crest. I was one day walking along a low 

 ridge of rocks, from which I flushed an owl that flew to some distance to a clump of 

 trees. Presently I heard an agonized scream, such as is made by a young antelope 

 when seized by a dog; and so exact a repetition of the sound was it that even my 

 dogs were deceived by it, and rushed off in the direction whence it came. I also sent 

 a Kafir boy, and presently followed myself, when I discovered it was the frightful 

 scream of Chizcerhis, of which a party were collected round the owl I had previously 

 disturbed, and whose presence appeared to be the exciting cause. At a later period I 

 had second opportunity of verifying this observation." 



During the early part of the year 1885, Mr. F. E. Beddard, the successor of Garrod 

 and Forbes as prosector of the London Zoological Society, published an attempt 

 to classify the CUCULID.E, or cuckoos, on anatomical principles, relying solely upon 

 the presence or absence of the accessory femoro-caudal (B), the nature of the syrinx, 

 and the confirmation of the pterylaa or feather tracts. He has brought out the con- 

 comitancy of some interesting characters and has succeeded in arranging the genera 

 investigated in groups corresponding to their geographical distribution. But it seems 

 as if the anatomical systematists are going to repeat the error of their predecessors, 

 the ' skin ornithologists,' in paying attention only to a single set of characters, as a 

 trifling or unessential feature is not worth more when anatomical or internal than 

 when external. 



The investigations of Mr. Beddard show that the syrinx of the Cuculida? appears 

 in three different forms, the bronchial, the tracheo-bronchial, and the pseudo-bronchial 

 syrinx. 



While for the general description of the syrinx we refer to the introduction to this 

 volume (page 16), a short explanation of the above terms may find an appropriate 

 place here. In the tracheo-bronchial form, the syrinx is formed at the point where 

 the trachea bifurcates to form the two bronchi, in such a way that the last tracheal 

 rings and first bronchial rings partake in the formation, and the tympaniform membrane 

 reaches the bifurcation. Such a syrinx is represented in Fig. 175. The true bron- 

 chial syrinx is paired, and is located farther down, one on each bronchus; the trachea 

 is simply continued in two bronchi, the first rings of which are complete ; at some 



