56 BIRDS OF BTtTTISH GUIAXA. 



behind them. They fly from twig to twig, and althongli I liave 

 seen these birds every day for the last six years^ I have never seen 

 them extend their flight beyond twenty or thirty yards at one 

 time, and never once saw them on the ground. This inactivitv is 

 not the result of inability, for their wings are well developed, and 

 their legs and feet are strong. They never leave the river-sides 

 and their food is the leaves and seeds of this pimpler and of a 

 ])]ant tliat grows in the water, a kind of gigantic cuckoo-pint, 

 called at home ' lords and ladies/ in this country called ' mucco- 

 niucco' [Caladlum arhorescens). I may mention in passing that 

 there is not a puddle of water in the colony in which this 

 Caladium is not found, and Drepanocarpus lunatus fringes every 

 river and creek in the country. 



'• In the middle of March and beginning of A})ril they make a 

 flat nest, like that of a sparrosv-hawk, on the top of the low 

 shrubs by placing a few dry sticks together, but so loosely 

 united that one can, when under them, see if the}' contain eggs or 

 young by simply looking up through them. They lay <wo, some- 

 times three, whitish eggs, spotted all over with light and dark 

 rusty-coloured spots, commencing with a blotch at the larger end. 



" The eo-cr is about the size of a small hen-egor. 



■■' The young is covered with a light coat of dark brown down. 

 The eyes, bill, feet, claws of feet, and claws on thumb and tip of 

 finger are a dark blue-brown. 



" The bill is short, thick, and conical like that of a sparrow, 

 with a slight bend in the upper mandible. The legs are strong, 

 with large strong toes, three directed forwards and one backwards, 

 and have well-developed claws. In the wing the fore-arm is 

 larger than the arm, and the hand is larger than the fore-arm. 

 The thumb is long and well developed, and has a long well 

 develo})ed claw ; the ])oint of the wing is developed into a 

 finger, tipped with a claw equal in size to that of the thumb ; 

 both tjie thumb and finger have the power of ab- and ad-duction. 

 As soon as the young escape from the egg they creep about with 

 the assistance of these hands, stretching out their wings and 

 digging these claws into or hooking on to wdiatever they meet. 

 They have not the power of grasping anything between their 

 finger and thumb. The specimen forwarded with this paper, 

 by means of these claws walked out of a large calabash, which is 

 a basin made out of the skin of a gourd and has a smooth 

 inside." 



