326 cuckow. 



rump ferruginous grey ; belly and vent white ; thighs white,, with a 

 longitudinal black streak on each feather ; upper wing coverts grey 

 brown, some of them tipped with yellow, forming a spot on the 

 shoulders, which is, for the most part, covered by the scapulars; 

 quills brown ; beneath them, and the bastard wing, grey brown ; 

 tail cuneiform, of twelve feathers, the two middle narrowest, colour 

 rusty brown ; the two next fuliginous, the inner margins whitish ; 

 the next on each side white, with brown tips, and a black spot on 

 the inner webs at the base; the outmost shorter than the rest, marked 

 as the last, but the black spot less conspicuous. 



The male said to have the base of the bill surrounded with 

 blackish. The female is rather smaller; the greenish brown on the 

 upper parts inclines more to yellow, and the base of the bill yellowish 

 white ; throat, neck before, breast, and flanks yellowish, variegated 

 with blackish brown ; otherwise like the male. 



Young birds are very like the females. 



Inhabits the interior of Africa, at a good distance from the Cape 

 of Good Hope, chiefly on the eastern side, from the forest of 

 Hottniqua, to the Caflres. The male and female very seldom seen 

 separate ; they are said to lay three or four dirty white eggs, in the 

 hole of a tree, and both sexes sit by turns ; but Dr. Sparrman was 

 shewn a nest, said to be of this bird, composed of slender filaments 

 of bark, in the form of a bottle, with the neck and opening 

 downwards, and a string in an arched shape suspended across the 

 opening. 



The manners of this bird are worth notice, as it is said to feed 

 chiefly on honey, and of much use, by its wonderful instinct, for 

 finding out the places where the wild bees hoard it up, and discovered 

 to the Hottentots and Dutch in the following manner. The morning 

 and evening are the times of feeding; the note is shrill, which the 

 hunters attend to, and answer from time to time, till the bird is in 

 sight, on which it flies to the spot where the bees have placed their 



