274 SCANSORES. CUCULID.E. 



peared on a low shrub within a few feet of us, 

 watching our motions with much apparent interest. 

 My .little friend informed me that it was a Rain- 

 bird, but that it had received also the title of Tom 

 Fool, from its silly habit of gratifying its curiosity, 

 instead of securing its safety. Without wasting 

 many words, however, the youth picked up a " rock- 

 stone," as pebbles are called in Jamaica, and de- 

 livered the missile with so skilful an aim, that the 

 bird dropped to the ground, and became the first- 

 fruits of an ornithological collection. 



I have often seen the bird since, and always with 

 the same manners, jumping from twig to twig, or 

 climbing with facility up the slender stems of the 

 young trees, gazing at the intruder ; and if driven 

 away, flying only a few yards, and again peeping as 

 before. It is little seen except where the woods 

 are high, but is widely scattered on mountain as 

 well as lowland. 



The wings are remarkably short and hollow, like 

 those of the Gallinacese, the bird displaying the un- 

 usual phenomenon of a length greater than the ex- 

 panse. Conformably to this, the bird is seldom seen 

 to fly except from tree to tree ; more usually leaping 

 in a hurried manner along the branches, or proceed- 

 ing up the perpendicular bole by short jumps. When 

 it does fly, it glides nearly in a straight line, without 

 flapping the wings. It often sits on a branch in a 

 remarkable posture, the head lower than the feet, 

 and the long tail hanging nearly perpendicularly 

 downward, When sitting it now and then utters a 

 loud and harsh cackle, unvarying in note, but in- 



