364 FOREIGN BIRDS. 



There was also the sawing bird Phytotoma ( 33 ) 



Those harshest of all notes, repeating Ra, Ra. 



With the fine English-Lady, ( 34 ) so named by 



French taste, 

 The Vulture was honoured—the assembly was grac'd. 



lays five dusky eggs with black spots; it is gregarious, and, in 

 breeding time, sings delightfully ; inhabits North America. 



For another Oriole, the Cowpen, see page 337 ; see also for- 

 wards — the Weaver-Oriole. 



Most of the Oriole tribe are called Troupioles, or Troupiales, by 

 many French naturalists: they are also called Troupioles by 

 Waterton. 



( 33 ) Order, Passeres, (Lath.) Plant-Cutter, the Chili, 

 the Abyssinian. 



The genus Phytotoma, {Lath.) or Plant-Cutter, consists 

 of two species, one of which, the Rvra, Chili-Plant-Cutter, 

 or Sawing-bird , has the bill conic, straight, serrate; nostrils 

 oval ; tongue short, obtuse ; feet four-toed ; the bjll is thick, 

 half an inch long, and toothed on each side like a saw ; body 

 above dusky-ash, beneath paler ; quill and tail-feathers spotted 

 with black ; nearly the size of a quail ; has a harsh inter- 

 rupted cry, Ra, Ra, whence its specific name ; feeds on fresh 

 vegetables, which it cuts down near the roots with its bill as 

 with a saw ; a pest to gardens ; builds in high shady trees ; 

 eggs white, spotted with red ; inhabits Chili. 



The other species is the Abyssinian-Plant-Cutter, called 

 by Linnaeus Loxia tridactyla, or Three-toed-Grosbeak ; it is 

 the size of the common-grosbeak, but has only three toes. 



( 34 ) Order, Pic^e, (Linn.) Curucui, English-Lady, 



The genus Trogon, (Linn.) or Curucui, consists of ten 

 species, ali natives of warm climates, chiefly Brazil ; they are 

 named Curucui from the similarity of that sound to their voice ; 

 the bill is shorter than the head, sharp-edged, hooked, th e man- 



