382 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xxx 



and skulks in the reed-beds, where it makes a peculiar 

 whoop-whoop, and is often noisy in the early morning 

 and at eventide. The coucal has powerful feet, which 

 enable it to clutch the smooth slanting stem of the 

 papyrus, and sometimes slides down it like an acrobat. 

 The bird looks very handsome when it perches in the 



The Racket-winged Nightjar (Macrodipteryx macrodipterus)\ins 

 the ninth primary elongated in each wing. When flying 

 in the dusk it appears like three birds a big bird with 

 two smaller birds mobbing it. 



middle of a papyrus umbel, its dusky white breast and 

 belly and chestnut head, back, wings and broad tail 

 then showing to great advantage. 



One species of coueal makes a noise like water 

 gurgling out of an inverted bottle ; for this it is some- 

 times called the " water-bottle bird." 



It is more common for the tail feathers to elongate in 



