CUCKOO,- INDICATOR. 131 



owners. Some suppose that the Cuckoo remains in the 

 country, being torpid during the colder seasons of the year. 

 Their peculiar note is familiar to every one. 



A species that inhabits Mexico has a cry resembling 

 human laughter, which is considered by the Indians as 

 ominous of evil. 



THE LONG-BILLED RAIN CUCKOO, 



A native of Jamaica, is rather larger than a blackbird, and 

 of sombre hue, has a note resembling the word sacco, and 

 a cry of alarm, like qua, qua, qua. It frequents the woods 

 and hedges, and is so tame that it will permit the negro 

 children to catch it in their hands. Besides insects, it eats 

 lizards, small snakes, frogs, young rats, and even small 

 birds. The snakes it swallows head foremost, the tail 

 hanging out at the mouth till the first received parts are 

 digested. In its gait it leaps like the magpie, and flies 

 only from bush to bush. Some assert that it rears its own 

 eggs. 



THE INDICATORS, OR HONEY-GUIDES, 



Have a solid, conical, and arched beak, and altogether a 

 peculiar appearance ; the head is small, and the wings 

 long. Their colours are simple, the size of the larger 

 species is ten and seven inches. These birds feed on 

 honey, for the sake of which they attack the bees' nests 

 often, however, suffering for the theft, as the bees sting 

 them in the eye, which is almost the only accessible part : 

 the bird is not unfrequently killed. The peculiar note 

 they utter, attracts not only men, but the beast called 

 Ratel. The Indicators are natives of Africa ; they are said 

 to build in hollow trees : their nests are formed of the 

 fibres of bark, in shape like a bottle, with the neck and 

 opening downwards. It hatches its own eggs, and climbs 

 trees like the woodpecker. 



