598 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Scansores. sionally killed in the south of France. 1 Many beautiful 



~— — "V"""' cuckoos are found in foreign countries. 



Those of North America belong to the genus Coccyzus 

 of Vieillot, and are distinguished by a greater length of 

 tarsus. (Plate CCCXCV. fig. 4.) They seem to delight 

 more in deep woody solitudes than the true cuckoos, the 

 latter being often found on hilly pastures and open heathy 

 ground, if fringed with wood. A stranger who visits the 

 United States for the purpose of examining their natural 

 productions, and passes through the woods in May or June, 

 will sometimes hear, as he traverses the borders of deep, 

 retired, high-timbered hollows, an uncouth guttural sound. 

 He will frequently hear this without being able to discover 

 the source from which it comes, as the yellow-billed cuckoo 

 ( Coccyzus Americanus) is both shy and solitary, and always 

 seeks the thickest foliage for concealment. This bird is of 

 a grayish brown, with bronzed reflections, beneath white, 

 the inner vanes of the primaries reddish cinnamon colour, 

 the lower mandible white, and the length from bill to tail 

 about twelve inches. Considerable discussion has taken 

 place among philologists regarding the native languages of 

 North and South America, — remarkable, we are led to un- 

 derstand, for their great number and striking dissimilarity. 

 We know not what may be the intention of the yellow- 

 billed cuckoo in speaking as he does, or whether he is dis- 

 tinctly comprehended by his neighbours ; but the follow- 

 ing is Mr Nuttall's account of the elements of his conver- 

 sation : " The male frequently betrays his snug retreat by 

 his monotonous and guttural kow kow kow kow, or hoo 

 hoo koo koo, and ho huh, ko kuk, koo koo hoo kuk, hoo ko 

 hoo, koo ko koo, uttered rather plaintively, like the call of 

 a dove. At other times the kow kow kow kow, and 'tk 

 'tk 'tk 'tk 'tak, or 'kh 'kh 'kk 'kh 'kak, kow kow kow kow, 

 beginning slow, rises, and becomes so quick as almost to 

 resemble the grating of a watchman's rattle, or else, com- 

 mencing with this call, terminates in the distant cry of 

 how kow kow." From this peculiar iteration (Shakspeare 

 would have called it " damnable," a word we sometimes 

 hear in pulpits, but ourselves but seldom use), the species 

 in question has received the name of kow-bixd, and we do 

 not wonder at it. It may be satisfactory to know, that the 

 St Domingo cuckoo (C. Dominicus, Nut.) although it 

 sometimes cries both how kow kow kow and 'kh 'kh 'kh 'kh 

 'kk 'kak, yet often utters, in a raucous guttural voice, espe- 

 cially preceding rain, a word which sounds like orrattottoo 

 or worrattottoo, exactly which has not been yet determined. 

 In the genus Centropus of Illiger the bill is compress- 

 ed and carinated, and the nail of one of the hind toes is 

 long, straight, and pointed, like a lark's. The tail is greatly 

 elongated. The species are native to India and Africa, 

 where they build in hollow trees, and feed on locusts and 

 other insects. Such are Cuculus JEgyptius, Senegalen- 

 sis, Bengalensis, &c. The genus Leptosomus of Vieil- 

 lot is constituted by the great Madagascar cuckoo ( C. 

 cafer, Lath. — Lep. viridis, Vieil.), the female of which, as 

 described by Buffon, is according to M. Lesson a distinct 

 species — Lept. crombus. These birds are said to be fru- 

 givorous. (Plate CCCXCV. fig. 5.) 



In the genus Indicator, Vail., the bill is short, high, al- 

 most conical. (Plate CCCXCV. fig. 6.) The tail consists of 

 twelve feathers, and is somewhat graduated, and at the same 

 time a little forked. The skin is described to be so hard 

 and tough as to resist the assaults of most hymenopterous in- 

 sects ; but bees, which they incessantly torment, are said to 

 sting them in the eyes. The species, few in number, are 

 known by the name of honey-guides, and inhabit Africa. 



The one mentioned by Sparrman is said to attract the no- Scansores. 

 tice of the Dutch and Hottentots by a shrill cry of cher, s— ~v-~~' 

 cher ; and when it perceives itself observed, it flutters on- 

 wards to the hive of a wild bee, in hopes of partaking of the 

 plundered honey. " I have had frequent opportunities," 

 he observes, " of seeing this bird, and have been witness 

 to the destruction of several republics of bees, by means of 

 its treachery. I had, however, but two opportunities of 

 shooting it, which I did, to the great indignation of my 

 Hottentots." It may be here noticed, we hope without 

 offence, that naturalists themselves seem not seldom to 

 belong to that irritabile genus, of which poets are usually 

 supposed to form the greater portion. Though Dr Sparr- 

 man asserts that he was a frequent eye-witness of the cu- 

 rious instinctive habits of the honey-guide, yet Vaillant 

 doubts if that traveller ever saw the bird at all. He says 

 that the account is merely a repetition of a fable believed 

 and repeated by credulous people at the Cape, and that it 

 is erroneous to suppose that the bird seeks to draw man 

 after it for the purpose of sharing the plundered sweets, 

 the fact being, that it calls not the man, but that the latter 

 knows, by attending to the cry of the honey-guide while 

 searching for its natural food, that he will be sure ere long 

 to find the stores of the industrious insect. According to 

 Bruce, the moroc, for so this singular species is sometimes 

 named, occurs in Abyssinia; and he too throws discredit 

 on Sparrman's statements, — his own being but ill received 

 by not a few. However, Sir John Barrow, a careful and 

 accurate inquirer, though not a professed naturalist, con- 

 firms it by stating that people in the interior of the South 

 of Africa are too well acquainted with the moroc to have 

 any doubts, either as to the bird itself, or its singular in- 

 stinctive habits. 



The Barbacous of Vaillant (genus Monasa, Vieil.) are 

 South American birds, with rather conical elongated bills, 

 slightly arched towards the tip, and furnished at the base 

 with setaceous feathers. (Plate CCCXCV. fig. 7.) Such 

 are Cue, tranquillus and tenebrosus of the older systems, 

 and the Bucco albifrons of Spix. We believe they are in- 

 sectivorous. The Malcohas of Vaillant, again (genus Phce- 

 nicoph.sus, Vieil.), are Asiatic species, of which the most 

 anciently known is native to Ceylon. (Plate CCCXCVI. 

 fig. 1.) We here place the Cuculus curvirostris of Shaw, 

 Latham's red-headed cuckoo, C. pyrrkocepkalus o( Forster, 

 &c. and certain recent species described by Dr Horsfield 

 and Sir Thomas Raffles. The preceding groups were all 

 regarded as cuckoos by the older authors. 2 



The genus Scythrops of Latham, however, has a much 

 stronger bill than any of these, marked by two slight lon- 

 gitudinal furrows. There is a naked space around the eye, 

 and the nostrils are rounded. Only a single species is yet 

 known, Sc. Novm Hollatulice, Lath., sometimes called the 

 channel bill, a most peculiar looking bird, of the size of a 

 crow, gray above, beneath dingy white. (Plate CCCXCVI. 

 fig. 2.) In its bill it almost assimilates to the toucans, but its 

 tongue is simple. Though it is mentioned both by White 

 and Phillips, we know as yet but little of its habits. It 

 occurs in New Holland, where it is sometimes seen in small 

 flocks, but more usually in pairs, frequenting trees, and ut- 

 tering during flight a loud and screaming cry, not unlike 

 the crowing of a cock. Its food is said to consist both of 

 fruits and insects. It also occurs in the Celebes, where its 

 voice presages rain. 



The genus Bucco of Linn., is characterized by a thickish 

 conical beak, bulged laterally from the base, and furnished 

 with five fasciculi of barbs directed forwards. The wings 



1 Roux, Ornithologie Provencale, p. 105. 



1 For the various modifications of form exhibited by the Cuculidse, and the numerous minor groups which have thence resulted, 

 see M. Lesson's Traiti d' Ornithologie, and a recent paper by Mr Swainson in the Magazine of Zoology and Botamj. 



