COUCAL. 251 



17— NEGRO COUCAL. 



Le Coucal Negre, Levail. Afr. v. 84. pi. 222. 



Polophilus Maurus, Black Coucal, Gen. Zool. ix. p. 57. pi. 13. 



SIZE of a Missel Thrush ; length eleven inches. Bill black, one 

 inch long; irides chestnut; the plumage wholly black, without gloss; 

 tail slightly cuneiform, half the length of the bird ; end of the quills 

 rounded in shape, and reach only to the rump ; legs black, stout, 

 one inch long ; the inner hind claw one inch and a quarter long, not 

 strait, but undulated in shape. 



The female is smaller, and inclines to brown on the belly. 



Inhabits the great forests in Caflre Land ; chiefly seen on the 

 lower branches of trees ; the male has a note like C6oo-ro, repeated 

 ten times together, and is always accompanied by the female, but the 

 latter has no note beyond that of cri-cri-cri-cri, somewhat like that 

 of the Kestril, while hovering in the air ; they make the nest in the 

 hollows of trees, and the female lays four white eggs ; both sexes sit 

 in turn. M. Levaillant killed only five of them, and found the 

 remains of insects in the stomach. 



K k2 



