ORDER SCANSORES. 537 



They frequent large forests, and thickets which border on in- 

 habited places, but very seldom are found in open situations. 

 They conceal themselves in tufted woods, of the most sombre 

 character, and on the most thickly foliated trees, the branches 

 of which they traverse in search of caterpillars and insects, 

 which constitute their principal nutriment : still, in default 

 of these, they will feed on berries, which they swallow entire; 

 at least, this is true of two species, which pass the summer 

 in North America. The couas are lively and alert, and 

 seldom descend upon the ground. Some are more wild and 

 tameless than others. Many have a powerful and sonorous 

 cry. From the peculiar sound uttered by some of them, M. 

 Vieillot has derived his popular name of the genus. 



Of the habits of the two next divisions of the text, nothing 

 is known. 



The Indicators are so called from serving as guides to 

 the natives of Africa in the discovery of honey. They nestle 

 in the hollows of trees, lay four or live eggs, and their aliment 

 is composed of honey, wax, and insects. The nest of the 

 Great Indicator^ as we are told by Sparmann, is composed 

 of weak filaments of the bark of trees, ingeniously tissued 

 together, and in the shape of a bottle turned upside down. It 

 is suspended by the two ends with a loose cord, so that the 

 birds can perch upon it. M. Le Vaillant, on the contrary, 

 assures us, that this bird makes its nest in the hollows of 

 trees, and climbs on them like the woodpeckers. This account, 

 we own, appears more probable, for it is more in consonance 

 with the general practice of the tribe, and far more intel- 

 ligible than that of Sparmann. The male partakes the incuba- 

 tion ; and the eggs are three or four in number, of a dirty white^ 



Tliis species is found in the interior of Africa, but is not 

 met in the environs of the Cape of Good Hope. If we are 

 to believe Sparmann, this is because there are no bees there ; 

 he says that he never saw any but on the farm of a single 

 colonist, who succeeded in fixing some wild swarms, by pre- 



