211 



CROTOPHAGA. 



CRUCIFER^E. 



21-1 



the order Grimpeura (Scansoren), Cuvier; Zyyodactyli, Temminck; 

 Sylvains Zygodactyles, Vieillot. 



The bill short, very much compressed, arched, without dentilations, 

 elevated, and surmounted by a vertical and trenchant crest ; nostrils 

 basilary, open ; fourth and fifth quills longest ; tail-feathers long, 

 roundei 



These birds are called Ani and Anno in Guyana and Brazil, and 

 Anno in Paraguay. In Mexico they are named, according to Her- 

 nandez, Cacalotototl, and in the Antilles Bouts de Petun, Amangoua, 

 Diables de Savannes, and Perroquets Noirs. In Cayenne their 

 common name is Bouilleur de Canari. Their general colour is black, 

 with more or less of metallic reflections. 



A considerable portion of the species are found in America 

 principally the hot and humid parts, but the south more especially 

 and the Antilles. 



The Anis live in flocks, and are so far from timid that when they 

 see their companions fall before the gun, the survivors fly but a short 

 way, and then a^ain settle. Bushes, the skirts of woods, and the 

 borders of flooded savannahs, are their favourite haunts. Their food 

 consists of small lizards, insects, and seeds. Many pairs are said to 

 use the same nest, built on the branches of trees, and of large 

 dimensions, when considered in relation to the number of couples 

 occupying it, where they lay and hatch their young in concert. 



C. Ani is a blackbird with bronzed tints in some lights. Size 

 rather larger than that of the common blackbird ; less than that of a 

 jackdaw. Locality, moist savannahs and the neighbourhood of water, 

 in the West India Islands, Carolinas, Brazil, Paraguay, &c. It is the 

 Razor-Billed Blackbird of Jamaica of Catesby, the Savannah Blackbird 

 of the English colonists, and the Great Blackbird of Sloane. 





Jamaica Blackbird (Crntupluiga Ani). 



Browne (' Hist, of Jamaica ') thus describes it : " This bird i.< 

 about the size of a Barbary dove, or something larger, black all over, 

 and splay-footed like a parrot. It has a long square tail, a broad 

 compressed bill, and a short thin tongue : but the beak or upper part 

 of the bill is flatted on the sides, arched and sharp above, and straight 

 at the edges below. They live chiefly upon ticks and other small 

 vermin, and may frequently be seen jumping about all the cows and 

 oxen in the fields ; nay, they are often observed to fly on their backs 

 unless they lie down for them, which if much troubled with ticks 

 they generally do when they see the birds about them ; but if the 

 beast be heedless they hop once or twice round it, looking it very 

 earnestly in the face every time they pass, as if they seem to know 

 that it was only requisite to be seen to be indulged. They are very 

 noisy birds, and one of the most common sorts in all the pastures of 

 Jamaica. Their flight is low and short." 



Sloane thus describes his specimen, under the name of the Great 

 Blackbird : " This was thirteen inches long from the end of the bill 

 to the end of the tail, and about fifteen inches from the end of one 

 wing to the end of the other, both being extended ; the bill was three- 

 quarters of an inch long, and black, the under mandible being straight, 

 the upper of a singular make, distinguishing it from other birds ; for 

 it was arched or round, raised high, flat and thin on the upper round 

 edge. The feet have three toes before and one behind (though 

 Marcgrave says otherwise). The legs are two inches long, and black 

 as jet ; the middle toe before is one inch and a half long, armed with 

 a pretty sharp claw, and the other toes proportionable. The colour 

 of the feathers all over is black. The stomach of this bird was 



pretty thick ; it was very full of grasshoppers, beetles, &c., disjointed 

 and partly dissolved. 



" It haunts the woods on the edges of the savannahs, and is very 

 common, making a loud noise upon the sight of mankind, which 

 alarms all the fowls in their neighbourhood, so that they are very 

 prejudicial to fowlers ; but on the other hand, when negroes run 

 from their masters and are pursued by them in the woods to be 

 brought back to their service, these birds, on sight of them as of other 

 men. will make a noise, and direct the pursuers which way they must 

 take to follow their blacks, who otherwise might live always in the 

 remoter inland woods in pleasure and idleness. 



" Perhaps this bird may have the toes sometimes two before, at 

 other times two behind." 



Sloane's doubt may have arisen from a casual examination of dead 

 specimens-. The fact is that the external toe in some scansorial birds 

 can be directed backwards, but not forwards to any extent. 



These birds are easily tamed, and may be taught to speak. Their 

 flesh is said to have a bad odour. 



CROUGER, a local name for the Prussian or Gibel Carp. 

 [CYPRIXID-E.] 



CROW. [CORVID-E.] 



CROW-BERRY. [EMPETRUM.] 



CROW-FOOT. [RANUNCULUS.] 



CROZOPHORA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Euphwbiacut. The flowers are monoecious. Calyx of male flowers 5- 

 parted; petals 5; stamens 5-10, with unequal connate filaments. Calyx 

 of female flowers 10-parted; petals absent; styles 3-bifid; capsule 

 3-coccous. 



C. tinctoriaisA small prostrate hoary annual, with slender cylindrical 

 stems about a foot long ; soft, oval, alternate, almost rhomboidal leaves, 

 which are plaited and curled at their edge ; small flowers arranged iu 

 short clusters, and drooping fruit composed of three blackish rough 

 cells. It is a native of barren places all over the south of Europe, and is 

 cultivated about Montpelier for the sake of the deep purple dye 

 called Tournesole, which it produces. Its properties are acrid, emetic, 

 corrosive, and drastic, like thejnost virulent Euphorbiaceous Plants. 



Orozophora tinctwia. 



), a male flower cut open, showing the stamens; 2, a closed flower; 3, a. 

 nearly ripe fruit ; 4, 5, different kinds of starry scales, with which ail the greeu 

 parts are covered. 



CRUCIAN CARP. [CYPBINID^B.] 



CRUCI'FER^E, Crucifert, the Cabbage Tribe, a very extensive and 

 most natural assemblage of Plants, called Tetradynamia and Cruciattf by 

 Linnams, and Brcwsicacece by others. It comprehends the Mustard, 

 Cress, Turnip, Cabbage, Scurvy-Grass, Radish, Horse-Hadish, and 

 similar plants, having a pungent principle diffused more or less in their 

 sap, and giving them valuable antiscorbutic qualities. All the species 

 have an inflorescence without bracts ; a calyx of 4 sepals ; 4 petals with 



