CUCKOOS. , 373 



birds, liidiiig from the mid-day heats under the sheltered portions of dense foliage near 

 the centre of a large tree. Whilst yet undistiirbe<1, the crest lies flat on the head, 

 and can only be seen as a tuft projecting from the occij)Ut. But their first act on 

 becoming aware of an intruder is to run along the branches, either to the summit of 

 the tree, or to the extremity of a branch comiiiaiidiiig a good look-out, where, with 

 crest fully erected and well thrown forward, they keep up a constant reiteration of 

 their note. If but little alarmed, they move rapidly from branch to branch, frequently 

 jerking uj) the crest, and assuming an attitude of attention. Again, after flight from 

 one tree to another, on alighting, they first rest on a branch, with the body somewhat 

 horizontal and the tail drawn nearly to the perpendicular, as if assuring themselves of 

 their equilibrium, and then, raising the body, elongating their neck, and, at the same 

 time, elevating the crest, they seem to take an observation as to the security of their 

 new position. So much is this a habit of the bird, that, during the conversational 

 difiiculties of my earlier intercourse with the Betchuanas, when inquiring for the nest 

 of Chizwrhis (the native name of which is ' Ma-quaai '), as soon as it dawned u])on 

 the mind of a native what bird I meant, he has imitated its note, accomi)anied by a 

 sudden jerking up of the hand, with his fingers extended to the utmost, as if at the 

 same time to mimic the elevation of the crest. I -was one day walking along a low 

 ridsic of rocks, from which I flushed an owl that flew to some distance to a clump of 

 trees. Presently I heard an agonized scream, such as is made by a young antelope 

 when seized by a dog ; and so exact a repetition of the sound was it that even my 

 dogs were deceived liy it, and rushed off in the direction whence it came. I also sent 

 a Kafir boy, and jiresently followed myself, when I discovered it was the frightful 

 scream of Chizcerhis, of which a party were collected round the owl I had previously 

 disturbed, and whose presence a])peared to be the exciting cause. At a later period I 

 had second oj)portunity of verifying this observation." 



Durmg the early part of the year 1885, Mr. F. E. Beddard, the successor of Oarrod 

 and Forbes as prosector of the London Zoological Society, published an attempt 

 to classify the Cuculid^, or cuckoos, on anatomical j)riiici])les, relying solely upon 

 the presence or absence of the accessory femoro-caudal (B), the nature of the syrinx, 

 and the confirmation of the pterylte or feather tracts. He has brought out the con- 

 comitancy of some interesting characters and has succeeded in arranging the genera 

 investigated in groups corresponding to their geograjihical distribution. But it seems 

 as if the anatomical systematists are going to rejieat the error of their predecessors, 

 the ' skin ornithologists,' in paying attention only to a single set of characters, as a 

 trifling or unessential feature is not worth more when anatomical or internal than 

 when external. 



The investigations of Mr. Beddard show that the syrinx of the Cuculidae appears 

 in three different forms, the bronchial, the tracheo-bronchial, and the pseudo-bronchial 

 Byrinx. 



While for the general description of the syrinx we refer to the introduction to this 

 volume (p.ige 16), a short explanation of the above terms may find an apjiropriato 

 place here. In the tracheo-bronehial form, the syrinx is formed at the point where 

 the trachea bifurcates to form the two bronchi, in such a way that the last tracheal 

 rings and first bronchial rings ])artake in the formation, and the tympaniform membrane 

 reaches the bifurcation. Such a syrinx is rejiresented in Fig. 175. The true bron- 

 chial syrinx is ]>aired, and is locateil farther <lown, one on each bronchus; the tracliea 

 is simply continued in two bronchi, the first rings of which are eoini>lete; at some 



