THE SEARCHERS. 



121 



extremely attenrive to the business of incubation, and never quit the nest while sitting without 

 covering the eggs with leaves, to preserve them at an equal temperature.' " " The only instance 

 I ever met with," continues Gosse, " while not conclusive, is rather in favour of this opinion than 

 opposed to it. In July I found a Blackbird's nest in a Bastard Cedar (Guazuma); it was a rather 

 large mass of interwoven twigs, lined with leaves, eight crimson eggs were in the nest, and the shells 

 of many more broken, and scattered beneath the tree. The eggs were about as large as a pullet's. 



THE WRINKLED-BEAKED TICK-E.\TER (Crolopfiaga rughvstris). 



very regularly oval, of a greenish blue, but covered with a coating of white chalky substance, whicli 

 was much scratched and eroded on them all, and which was displaced with but little force." 



THE WRINKLED-BEAKED TICK-EATER. 



The Wrinkled-beaked Tick-eater {Crotophaga rugirostris) is somewhat larger than the Ani ; 



its beak is also longer, and covered with four or five wrinkles or ridges. The plumage is of a dull 



blueish black; the feathers on the head, throat, and upper breast are edged with violet, and 



those of the back and belly bordered with a rich metallic green. The eye is greyish bro\\Ti, the 



VOL. lu, — 95 



