538 



XA TURAL HISTOR Y 



best in the West Indies. The name Crotophaga means tick-eater, and is 

 well applied to these birds ; for, like some other birds, it eats the parasites 

 from the backs of the cattle, leaping on the backs of the cows while they 

 are grazing, and eagerly picking off all the insects : when the back is 

 cleaned, they take the tail, and clinging to it with their strong claws, pick 

 everything edible out of the terminal tuft of hair. Again, they will seek 

 their food in the earth, and here the large bill, knife-edged above, comes 

 into play, for it cuts like a ploughshare. In flight the bird presents a 



Fig. 443. — Savanna blackbird {Crotophaga ani). 



peculiar appearance. The body is held perfectly straight, the tail being in 

 the same line, so that, viewed from the side, it has the aspect " rather of a 

 fish than of a bird." 



Most remarkable is its nesting habits. Sometimes one bird will make 

 its own nest; but usually a company unite, and build an immense nest of 

 basket-work, usually on a high tree. This is used in common by all the 

 flock, half a dozen or more laying their eggs together, and all assisting in 

 the incubation, and rearing the young together. 



The group of goat-suckers and their allies play as important a part in 

 the superstitious beliefs of the uneducated, as they do in the realms of 



