162 Sir W. Jarcline on the Habits 0/ Crotophaga. 



quently alighting on the backs of the flocks in search of the 

 vermin with which they are infested^ breeding in a community, 

 and sometimes using a common nest, in which several toge- 

 ther deposit and hatch their eggs, the nest being placed upon 

 trees, bushes, or upon the ground *. In reading over Mr. 

 Kirk^s remarks upon the Tobago species it will be found that 

 they generally agree with the notes we have given from various 

 travellers, &c. But we find no trace of their ever building 

 upon the ground, or of using a common nestf; the latter fact, if 

 it ever takes place at all, being probably confined to some other 

 species. In the system which Mr. Swainson has so success- 

 fully wrought out, Crotophaga is placed among the Cuculidce 

 to form a connexion with the Rasores, and among that order 

 of birds only do w^e find a few species which incubate in a 

 common nest. In other parts of their manners and structure, 



* " Crotophaga for instance resembles the Rasores ; both have such a 

 weak flight that they seldom proceed far upon the wing ; both habitually live 

 and build their nests upon, the ground, and both associate in flocks. Among 

 hundreds of the common Ani which we have seen in South America we 

 never beheld one perch upon anything higher than a bush, and this was but 

 seldom, as they are habitually terrestrial birds, totally differing in oeconomy 

 and habits from the European or American cookoos." — Lardner's Cabinet 

 Cyclopcedia, 'Birds,' ii. p. 161. 



" 11 en est de meme (se laisse facilement apprdcher) des nich6es d'anis, 

 qui, vivant en famille, s'expose a la file sur un rneme branche aux coups du 

 chasseur." — Quog et Gaimard, Voy. de Freycinet^ p. 19. 



" At Bahia, or rather its vicinity, the chattering crows {Crotophaga) are 

 looked upon superstitiously, and their bills are reckoned a good antidote 

 against poison." — Dampier's Voy., iil. j>. 50. 8vo edit. 1729. 



f " Hujus speciei aves amplissimos in sepibus nidos construunt et quinqua- 

 ginta simulin uno eodemque nido ova ponunt et incubant." — Brisson,Synop. 

 Method, ii. p. 92. 



The author of the article ' Ani ' in the * Dictionaire Classique d' His- 

 toire Naturelle' gives the summary of our previous notes, but is more minute 

 on the subject of nidification : *' Un seul et meme nid, dont I'etendue est 

 augmentee selon les besoins, recoit ordinairement toutes les couveuses de la 

 troupe. Ce nid est construit solidement entre de larges bifurcations d'un 

 buisson epais ou d'un arbre touffu ; il se compose de branches seches et 

 d'herbes fines entrelacees ; ses bords sont assez releves, et son diametre est 

 quelquefois d'un pied et demi. II ai-rive presque toujours que, pendant I'in- 

 cubation, les ceufs se melent; alors les couveuses en rassemblent indifferem- 

 ment sous leur aile vivifiante autant qu'elle peut en couvrir, et des que ces 

 ceufs sonteclos, les parens, hors d'etat de reconnaitre leur veritable progeni- 

 ture, donnent chacun a leur tour la becquee a tons ceux qui se presentent." 

 — i. p. 367. Art. Ani. 



We regret being unable to quote the description of Azara ; our copy of 

 that work is unfortunately deficient in the last volume, and the Edinburgh 

 libraries do not possess it. 



