160 THE LOCUST-EATING THRUSH. 



feathered companions, whilst those near a farmyard learn not only to 

 imitate the cries of all the different inhabitants, but reproduce them so 

 perfectly as to deceive the nicest ear. Thus they have been known tr> 

 summon the house-dog, by whistling like his master; drive a hen to a 

 state of utmost excitement, by constantly screaming out in such a man- 

 ner as to lead her to suppose that one of her chicks was in the last 

 H'onies; or to scare away a whole flock of poultry by the perfection 

 v ith which they imitate a cry of one of the many tyrants of the air. 



THE LOCUST-BATING THRUSH. 



The head, breast, and back of the Locust-eating Thrush are of a 

 pale ash-color, and the abdomen and rump 

 are white. The wings and tail are black: 

 the latter short, and a little forked. From 

 the angle of the mouth a naked space of sul- 

 phureous yellow extends under the eye, and 

 a little beyond it ; and there are two naked 

 black streaks under the throat. 



To this new species, which is found in the 

 interior of the southern districts of Africa, 

 and is only met with in places where the migrating Locusts frequent, 

 Mr. Barrow has affixed the specific name of Gryllivvrus. This he has 

 done with great propriety, as, when such is to be obtained, its whole 

 food seems to consist of the larvse of these insects, and, except when 

 the Locust infests any particular district, this bird is seldom to be 

 found there. 



Providence, which has not often given a bane without accompany- 

 ing it with an antidote, seems to have peculiarly ordained this bird 

 as a relief to the inhabitants of Africa, from the dreadful attacks of 

 these most voracious and most numerous of all insects. But, however 

 astonishing the multitudes of Locusts may be, the numbers of the 

 Locust-eating Thrushes are not less so. Their nests, which at a dis- 

 tance seem of enormous size, appear on examination to consist of a 

 number of cells, each of which forms a separate nest, with a tube that 

 leads into it through the side ; so that what seemed but one great nest, 

 is found to consist of a little republic, of perhaps ten c>r twenty. One 

 roof of interwoven twigs covers the whole, like that made over the 

 nest of the Magpie of England. 



Mr. Barrow saw a vast number of these birds in the district of 

 Sneuberg, about one hundred and fifty leagues north-east of the Cape. 

 They had not visited that colony for thirteen years before ; that is to 

 Bay, since the last time the Locusts had infested it. They had, how- 

 ever, now taken up a temporary abode, in a place which they were 

 not likely, in a short space of time, to be under the necessity of quit- 

 ting for want of food. Of the innumerable multitudes of the incom plete 

 insects or larvae of the Locusts, that at this time infected the southern 

 districts of Africa, no adequate idea could possibly be formed ; for, in 

 an area of nearly two thousand square miles, the whole surface of the 

 earth might literally be said to be covered with them. 



