GUIRA CUCKOO 17 



deep, one or two birds at the top to crown the pyra- 

 mid ; but with all their huddling together a severe 

 frost is sure to prove fatal to one or more birds in 

 the flock ; and sometimes several birds that have 

 dropped from the branch stiff with cold are found 

 under the trees in the morning. If the morning is 

 fair the flock betakes itself to some large tree, on 

 which the sun shines, to settle on the outermost 

 twigs on the northern side, each bird with its wings 

 drooping, and its back turned towards the sun. In 

 this spiritless attitude they spend an hour or two 

 warming their blood and drying the dew from their 

 scanty dress. During the day they bask much in 

 the sun, and towards evening may be again seen on 

 the sunny side of a hedge or tree warming their backs 

 in the last rays. It is owing, no doubt, to its fecun- 

 dity and to an abundance of food that the Guira 

 Cuckoo is able to maintain its existence so far south 

 in spite of its terrible enemy the cold. 



With the return of warm weather this species 

 becomes active, noisy, and the gayest of birds ; the 

 flock constantly wanders about from place to place, 

 the birds flying in a scattered desultory manner one 

 behind the other, and incessantly uttering while on 

 the wing a long complaining cry. At intervals during 

 the day they also utter a kind of song, composed of a 

 series of long modulated whistling notes, two- 

 syllabled, the first powerful and vehement, and 

 becoming at each repetition lower and shorter, then 

 ending in a succession of hoarse internal sounds like 

 the stertorous breathing of a sleeping man. When 



B II 



