148 VOYAGES OF A NATURALIST 



cuckoo. This bird is extremely abundant, as it 

 is in some of the other West Indian Islands, and 

 also in Brazil. Several individuals are usually 

 seen together, and they roam over the pasture 

 land in foUow-my-leader style, uttering a 

 monotonous bubbling cry. They are said to be 

 partial to the company of cattle and sheep, and 

 to relieve them of their ticks, but I cannot vouch 

 for this on personal observation. Usually they 

 were, when feeding, sitting together in a flock on 

 the grass, amongst the roots of which they were 

 apparently searching for insects. They are of 

 about the size of our cuckoo, but jet black in 

 colour, though old examples in fresh plumage 

 have a bluish sheen on the upperparts. The bill 

 is peculiarly shaped, being deep, with the upper 

 mandible strongly arched. Common though these 

 birds are, I believe that little is known of their 

 nesting habits. Several females are said to lay 

 their eggs in the same nest, but they do not, like 

 true cuckoos, deposit their eggs in the nests of 

 other birds. 



Another and more handsome cuckoo was 

 Coccyzus maynardi, of about the same size as the 

 black ani, but of totally different coloration, 

 the upperparts being clove-brown, the tail blacker, 

 and edged with white and black, and the underparts 

 huffish white. This bird did not appear to be so 

 abundant as the ani, and during our stay we saw 

 but one example. 



