EXPLANATORY INDEX. 401 



Crabier. — The Boat-bill {Cancroma cochlearia). — It is a 

 small heron, having an oddly-shaped beak, much resembling a 

 boat turned upside down. It frequents the shores, and feeds 

 chiefly on the smaller Crustacea. Sometimes it is called the 

 Wallaba Bird. 



Cricket. — ^Waterton uses the colloquial term. The so-called 

 Crickets are in fact Cicadas, several species of which are 

 common in the southern parts of Europe. Only one British 

 species is known, and may be found in the jSTew Forest. In 

 Guiana, the Cicadas attain a very large size, and their cry has 

 been compared to the whistle of a railway engine. 



Cuckoo, Metallic {Coccygus Americanus). 



Curlew, Scarlet. — Waterton here employs the colloquial 

 name for the Scarlet Ibis (^Tantalus^ Ibis rubra). 



There are several species of Ibis, the most familiar being 

 the sacred Ibis of Egypt, which figures so largely in the 

 ancient Egyptian sculptures and paintings. This is but a dull 

 bird in colour, being only white and black, and with a neck 

 quite bare of feathers, and looking as if made of a very old 

 and very crumpled black kid glove. 



The Scarlet Ibis, however, is far more beautiful than any of 

 its congeners, being of a most brilliant scarlet, with a few 

 patches of jet black. 



SCARLET CURLEW. 



The accompanying illustration represents one of these birds 

 at it appeared when sunning itself in the Zoological Gardens. 

 It bowed its head until the tip of the curved beak nearly 



