290 SCANSORES. CUCULID^. 







skimming along the bordering woodland, gliding 

 occasionally downward to the lesser bushes in the 

 Savanna. The tocsin of the Blackbird, however, has 

 warned the whole field, and not a voice is heard, and 

 not a wing is stirring. 



" In the hot and sultry days when the dews have 

 ceased to fall, and all vegetation is parched and 

 languid, the Blackbirds are seen wending their way 

 at an early hour of the afternoon to the river-side, 

 trooping in little parties. They have found some 

 spot where an uprooted tree has grounded in the 

 shallow stream. Here they are perched, some tail 

 upward, drinking from the gliding waters below, 

 some silent and drooping, some pluming themselves, 

 and some in the sands that have shoaled about the 

 embedded trunk of the tree, washing in the little 

 half-inch depths of water. They will continue 

 here till sunset, when they will start off laggingly, 

 the signal being first given By some one of the 

 flock, who has announced, that it is time to seek 

 their coverts for the night, with the still peculiar 

 cry of que-yuch" 



I am inclined to attach very little importance 

 to the wrinkles on the beak as indicating specific 

 difference : these, as well as the form and size of 

 the organ, varying considerably in individuals from 

 the same locality ; the result, I have no doubt, of 

 age. 



