330 cuckow. 



same above, eyebrows black ; the fore part of the neck light yellow, 

 darker on the sides, reaching nearly to the shoulders ; breast and 

 belly dirty white ; feathers of the thighs long and white ; the wing 

 feathers are mostly tipped with white ; tail long, and whitish at the 

 end, the three middle feathers the longest ; legs black. It has only 

 three toes, two before and one behind. 



Inhabits Abyssinia, especially such parts where honey is chiefly 

 produced as revenue, as Agou, Goutto, and Belessen. It feeds on 

 bees, but kills more than it eats, as numbers are found scattered on 

 the ground. It makes a sort of snapping* noise, when catching the 

 bees, otherwise has no note. — M. Lobos, in his voyage to Abyssinia, 

 speaks also of a bird, called Moroc, which has the instinct of dis- 

 covering honey ; but from his account, it is that which is collected 

 by the ground bees ; as he says, they keep their holes in the ground 

 extremely clean, and though common in the highways, they are 

 seldom found except by the Moroc's assistance. 



Mr. Bruce supposes this to be the same with his bird, and ridicules 

 Dr. Sparrman for giving an account of a species, to which he attri- 

 butes the same faculty, but as these two are very clearly different 

 birds, his criticisms must of course fall to the ground. 



87 —ASIATIC CUCKOW. 



LENGTH eight inches or more. Bill nearly one inch, brown- 

 black ; nostrils scarcely conspicuous, being in great part covered by 

 a membrane ; general colour of the plumage dirty brown-black, 

 inclining to lead-colour on the rump ; sides of the chin, and throat 

 grey, mottled with black in short dashes ; belly lead-colour ; tail 



* Kolben mentions a Bird by the name of Gnat Snapper, which he says, directs the 

 Hottentots to the honey collected by the bees in the rocks. — See Honey-Cuckow; but in 

 our opinion, the Gnat Snapper, so called at the Cape of Good Hope, is more likely to prove 

 the Bee-Eater, -which is very destructive to bees. 



