u 



in the Order Insessores Heterogenes. 359 



island, but in Cuba it is never seen about houses, unless they 

 be near to rivers. M. Vieillot states that in St. Domingo it 

 has obtained the name of " Perroquet de terre" from its ha- 

 bit of resting almost constantly on the ground. Now this is 

 certainly wrong, for I never saw a Peorrero on the ground, 

 common as this bird is near Cogimar ; nay, from the forma- 

 tion of its feet, I do not see how it could conveniently rest on 

 the ground. I never j moreover, could see that remarkable 

 mode of carrying its head, which M. Vieillot both mentions 

 and figures in the 'Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Natu- 

 relle.' This bird carries its head in the usual way, and that 

 figure is, in fact, as unnatural and as unlike the Todus viridis 

 as any can possibly be."* The same writer that I before 

 quoted remarks, that "the only sound which I ever heard it 

 [the T. viridis] utter, was a sort of purr, or murmur, when ap- 

 proached, a sound invariably an intimation of its rising on 

 wing. It is essentially insectivorous." 



T quote the following passage in detail from the i Familiar 

 History of Birds,' published some time ago by the present 

 Bishop of Norwich : the fact which it states will probably be 

 new to most readers, as regards the green tody. "Herodotus 

 asserted that there was a certain small bird, which, as often 

 as the crocodiles came on shore from the river Nile, flew fear- 

 lessly within their jaws, and relieved them of a peculiar kind 

 of leeches which infested their throats. This ancient histo- 

 rian added, that although other birds invariably avoided the 

 crocodile, it never did this bird any injury. So extraordinary 

 a story was treated as fabulous by the naturalists. It is, not- 

 withstanding, strictly true. M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, an emi- 

 nent and accurate French naturalist, confirms the fact beyond 

 doubt. The bird alluded to is the Egyptian plover, (Cha- 

 radrius JEgyptiacus), which sometimes enters the mouth of 

 the crocodile, attracted thither, not, according to his account, 

 by leeches, but by a small insect like a gnat, which frequents 

 the banks of the Nile in great quantities. When the croco- 

 dile comes on shore to repose, he is assailed by swarms of 

 these gnats, which get into his mouth in such numbers, that 

 his palate, — naturally of a bright yellow colour, — appears co- 

 vered with a blackish brown crust. Then it is, that the little 

 plover, which lives on these insects, comes to the aid of the 

 half-choked crocodile, and relieves him of his tormentors ; 

 and this without any risk, as the crocodile, before shutting 

 his mouth, takes care, by a preparatory movement, to warn the 

 bird to be off. This singular process is, moreover, not con- 



* Extract from Diary. 

 Vol. II.— No. 19. n. s. i i 



