on Cuckoos in captivity.



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These birds are very common in the Gambia, where they are

locally known as “ Fool-birds,” from the idiotic way they have of

offering themselves as targets at the closest range to anyone out with

a gun. In every way they are in a natural state remarkably tame

birds with but little fear of man, of whose presence they scarcely

take any notice as they hop heavily about the bushes and long grass

in search of food. In colour they are chestnut above, with black

head and tail and dirty white under parts. The bill and feet are

black, the latter furnished with powerful claws, that on the hind-

toe being specially long and straight, a feature to which the Coucals

owe their occasional names, “ Lark-heels ” or “ Spur-heeled

Cuckoos.” In length our bird measures about 16 in., of which the

tail forms nearly half. Their irides are bright red and give them an

alert and rather fierce expression. Their usual note is one of the

commonest sounds of the evening and (at the commencement of the

breeding season) of the early part of the night as well. It can be

heard on all sides from sundown onwards as one bird answers

another, “ Wu-tu-tu-tu ” repeated ad lib., with a gradually falling

pitch, the performer attitudinising the while on his perch, his throat

puffed out and collapsed alternately, his head bowed forwards till the

beak points to the toes, the tail held stiffly parallel with the legs, and

the whole attitude apparently one of rigid and grotesque discomfort.

At other times they utter a sort of cackle not unlike a “ Bush-fowl’s ”

call.


The nest is placed low down in a bush always just inside a

patch of really thick growth. The natives believe that one always

finds in the nest a living but crippled snake kept there to scare away

intruders. The origin of this tall story is no doubt the fact that

these birds may frequently be seen carrying off small snakes still

alive and wriggling, and that they may often ornament their nests

with pieces of cast snake-sloughs. From such a basis a Mandingo

would have no difficulty in evolving an even more marvellous tale.


According to Russ the Senegal Coucal has been on exhibition

in the London (first arrival, 1869) and Amsterdam Zoological

Gardens. I also remember that some few years back one of the

London dealers had a couple of African Coucals, but can find no

record of what happened to them. I am not sure, too, to what


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