C U C K O Wo ^ r 



Cuculus vetula, Lin. Syft. i. p. 169. N°4« 



Le Coucou a long bee de la Jamaique, Brif.orn.'iv. p^ufi. N-»J. pi. 17. LONG- 



f. 2.— P/. <>«/. 772. BILLED RAIN- 



Le Tacco, Buf. oif. vi. p. 402; (-• 



Picus feu PluviaE avis canefcens, &c. Rail Syn. p. 182. N° 13. 

 Another fort of Old Man, or Rain Bird, Sloane Jam. p. 313* N? 53. 



pi. 258. f. 2. 



HTHIS is a triHe bigger than a Blackbird : length more than Description^ 



fifteen inches. Bill above an- inch and a half long: the 

 upper mandible black; the lower whitifh: crown of the head 

 brown, the feathers of it foft and filky: the upper parts of the 

 body, and the quills, cinereous olive: throat and fore part of the 

 neck whitifh ; the reft of the under parts rufous : the tail is much, 

 euneated; the two middle feathers cinereous olive, the others 

 dufky black, tipped with white; the outer feather very fhort : 

 legs blue-black. 



Inhabits Jamaica, where it is -frequent in the woods and hedges, ■„ 



J *' t> ' rlACE AND' 



all the year round. It feeds on- feeds, fmall worms, and cater- Manners. 

 pillars, and is very tame. Sloane mentions, that he found, . on 

 diffeftion, the ftomach of a great fize, in refpeft to that of the 

 bird; a circumftance I have more than once obferved in the 

 European Cuckom. 



This bird has the' name' 'Tacco from its cry,-which is like that 

 word ; the firft fyllable of this is pronounced hardly, the 

 other following in a full octave lower than the firft.. It has alfo 

 another cry, like qua, qua, qua,but that only when alarmed by- an 

 enemy. As well as infects, it will alfo eat Lizards, fmall Snakes, 

 Frogs, young Rats, and, fometimes, even fmall Birds. The Snakes 



2 they-" 



