166 Sir W. Jardlne on the Habits of Crotophaga. 



lables, shorter but not unsimilar to the first note of the Cur- 

 lew while soaring aloft, the latter part of the note of the Keel- 

 bills being in a sharper key and ending with the letter p, or 

 somewhat like the syllables whoorip. They are very often 

 come upon by surprise while searching for their food amongst 

 vines and long grass ; on such occasions a single bird evinces 

 the greatest distress by violent efforts of wing and elaborate 

 and frequent irregular repetition of its usual note ; while on 

 the contrary to see them descend from an eminence, a tree, 

 or shrub, &c., nothing can exceed the ease and gracefulness 

 of their movements as they glide through the air without a 

 motion of wings except a slight alternate raising and depress- 

 ing of these members, with a gently elevated tail. 



" I have heard it observed that these birds make one general 

 nest, and that numbers of them contribute in adding to the 

 stock of eggs; this I cannot contradict, but do not credit. 

 On this point I am not sufficiently informed, for although I 

 have been in search after their nests for several years and of- 

 fered rew^ards for procuring them, yet where there are hun- 

 dreds of the birds, — and they are apparently increasing with 

 rapidity, — our stock-keepers have never succeeded in finding 

 me one nest. I however fortunately fell in with one last year, 

 in the beginning of October (1837). It was built in the fork 

 of a lime tree, covered with a thicket of misseltoe vine, and 

 situate within fifteen feet of the dwelling-house door of one 

 of our labourers. His description w^ent to say that towards 

 evening and morning a flock of the birds used to assemble 

 upon the tree and in its vicinity, where they kept up a consi- 

 derable noise. I made it my study to watch them on several 

 occasions, but was unable to gather anything of importance. 

 I robbed the nest of one egg daily to the amount of nine, 

 and on my tenth visit found the nest with two broken eggs 

 lying at the root of the tree. It was rudely constructed of 

 coarse materials, chiefly small sticks, with the more pliable 

 portions placed inside, but was totally destitute of any soft 

 substance as a lining. Another nest w as discovered towards 

 the end of the same month constructed in a similar man- 

 ner, but placed on this occasion on a pretty high tree, also 

 covered wdth a creeping vine ; this being left undisturbed 



