Sir W. Jardine on the Habits of Crotophaga. 321 



pie^ htive at all times been objects of superstition to the com- 

 mon people. 



'' Setting aside the peculiar shape of its beak^, the Crotophaga 

 resembles the Corvidse further in some points of its outer ap- 

 pearance. Its form and graceful motions when gliding through 

 between the brant^hes of the trees and shrubs or when on the 

 wing remind us of the genera Pica and Garrulus ; at the base 

 of the bill we observe setaceous feathers, a character of the 

 Corvinae; the fourth quill is the longest, colour entu-ely black, 

 glossed with violet reflexions like the g'Cnus Corvus. The flesh 

 has a disagreeable odour ; nevertheless I have been informed 

 that this does not deter some of the negroes from eating them ; 

 and I have been more than once told, that they are used as 

 substitutes for pigeons or rooks in pies. 



" I agree perfectly with Mr. Kirk that they do not build their 

 oiest on the ground ; it is generally built in the fork of trees : 

 but although the construction of the nest resembles that of the 

 Corvidae, it is built at a less height from the ground. I can- 

 not substantiate by ocular evidence that they breed in com- 

 munity, but I have heard it always asserted of the larger spe- 

 cies (C. major). The Indians have told me on inquiry, that 

 in the nest of the smaller species, which you call C rugirostra, 

 they find only from five to seven eggs ; but in those of the 

 larger they are so numerous that they fill a whole calabash. 

 The Indians, at least the Warraus and Arawaks, eat these 

 eggs ; and their evidence that they take such a large number 

 of eggs from the nests of C. major ^ confirms the belief that 

 they use a common nest. Sororeng, one of the Indians who 

 has accompanied me to London, and who served me as inter- 

 preter during the last expedition, assures me that he has seen 

 three birds of the larger species (C major) which they call 

 Woworima, sitting in one nest ; and on asking him how many 

 eggs he saw in the nest, he designated the number by pointing 

 to the number of his fingers and his toes. 



^^ I have noted both species (C. major and Ani rtiyirostra}) 

 along the rivers of Guiana ; they are therefore not peculiar to 

 savannahs. When ascending the rivers Essequibo, Parima, 

 Rio Branco, Orinoco, &c. we observed them frequently along 

 the woody banks of these rivers : disturbed by the noise of our 



Arm, Nat. Hist, Vol. 4. No. 25. Jan. 1840. 2 a 



