The Kagu 345 



brown, while the greater part of the wings is white and the lower parts black. 

 The plumage of the female is remarkably different. This species is almost 

 confined to eastern Bengal, where it is a resident the year round, living entirely 

 on the uncultivated plains. Hudson has given a very entertaining account, 

 unfortunately too long to quote entire, of the habits and nidification, derived 

 mainly from native hunters. It appears that the sexes live apart for most of 

 the year, going about in parties of three or four. "In the season of love the troops 

 of males and females come into the same neighborhood, but without mixing. 

 A male steps forth, and, by a variety of very singular proceedings quite analogous 

 to human singing and dancing, recommends himself to the neighboring bevy of 

 females. He rises perpendicularly in the air, humming in a deep peculiar tone, 

 and, flapping his wings, he lets himself sink after he has risen some fifteen or 

 twenty yards; and again he rises and again falls in the same manner, and with 

 the same strange utterance, and thus perhaps five or six times, when one of the 

 females steps forward, and with her he commences a courtship in the manner 

 of a Turkey cock by trailing his wings and rising and spreading his tail, hum- 

 ming all the time as before." The nest is concealed in deep grass cover, at the 

 foot of a thick tuft of grass and in a slight depression in the ground. The eggs, 

 always two in number, are noticeably different in size and coloration, the larger 

 and more richly colored producing, Mr. Hudson says, a male bird, while from the 

 smaller and plainer colored one a female bird is hatched. The habits of the 

 Lesser Florican are described as being quite similar to those of the Bengal species. 



THE KAGU 



(Family Rhinochetidai} 



In the far-away island of New Caledonia there is a remarkable bird known 

 by the natives as the Kagu (Rhinocheius jubalus), the systematic position of 

 which has given rise to almost as much discussion as that of the Cariamas. It 

 was first made known in 1860, shortly after the French occupation of the island, 

 its original describers first regarding it as a Heron and later as a Crane. It was 

 soon after determined, both from external appearance and a study of its anatomy, 

 to be probably nearest related to the Sun-Bitterns. It is a moderately long-legged 

 bird, with a body about the size of a common fowl, a moderately long bill, and a 

 full crest, five or six inches in length, pendent from the back of the head. The 

 plumage is of a light ashy gray color above, paler below, obscurely barred on the 

 outer wing-coverts and tail with darker, the primaries and secondaries being also 

 freckled with dusky brown, this latter feature only showing when the wings are 

 spread. The drooping plumes are ashy gray, while the bill, legs, and feet are 

 reddish orange. The Kagu runs quickly and has the habit of stopping suddenly 

 and standing motionless, but when excited it stands straight, with erected crest, 

 semi-expanded wings, and drooping tail, and when in a playful mood it throws 

 small sticks and stones about with the bill. The birds call to each other, usually 



