448 BIRDS OF BRITISH (iflAXA. 



for a Wilderness, pp. 49, 157) :— '" Anis blundered along looking 

 as if their winos uud tails were too loosely attached for use." 



" Smooth-billed Ani — these aberrant Cuckoos are most inter- 

 esting birds, and several females are said to combine, building a 

 single hollow nest of sticks in which the eggs are hatched/' 



307. Crotopliaga major. 



Great Ani. 



Crotopliaga major Gmel. Syst. Xat. i. p. 363, 1788 (Cayenne) ; Cab. in 

 Schomb. lieis. Guian. iii. p. 712, 1848 ; Brown, Canoe and Camp 

 Life, p. 1.32, 1876 (Kewa Kiver) ; Salvin, Ibis, 1886, p. 63 ; Lloyd 

 Price, Timehri (2) v. p. 63, 18D1 (habitsj ; Quelch, torn. cit. p. 94 

 (Georgetown); Shelley, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xix. p. 428, 1891 

 (Aunaij ; Beebe, Our Search for a Wilderness, p. 131 (Georgetown), 

 p. 1.56 (Waini), 1910 ; Braboui-ne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 153, 

 no. loOO, 1912. 



" King-Witch " {Lloyd Price) ; " Big Witch " or '• Jumbie 

 Bird " {Beehe). 



Adult male. General colour above and below blue-black with 

 green and purple reflections ; the feathers on the mantle, upper 

 wing-coverts, and breast edged with bronze-green ; the feathers 

 on the head, sides of face, and throat narrow and pointed. 



Total length 470 mm., culmen 49, wing 200, tail 23.5, tarsus 47. 



The male described was collected on the Abary River. 



Adult female. Like the adult male. Wing 196 mm. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Isest. " The nest is built in the densest bush, and is not often 

 found " {Lloi/d Price). 



JEf/r/s. '• The eggs when scraped are of the same rich blue '' 

 (Lloyd Price). 



Range in British Guiana. Abary River, Upper Takutu Moun- 

 tains, Supenaam River, Bartica (McConnell collection) ; Rewa 

 River (Brown) ; Annai ( Whitely) ; Georgetown, Waini {Beehe). 



E^drcdimital Range. Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, 

 Peru, Brazil. 



Hahits. According to Schomburgk (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 712) 

 this bird lives on the outskirts of the woods, in the oasis or the 

 wooded borders of the Savanna rivers, and usually in flocks. 

 Small colonies of nests are found in low thorny bushes. 



