18 



RED-BELLIED CURUCUI. 



are never more than two found together, at which 

 time the male has a very melancholy note (by 

 w 7 hich his haunts are discovered) which is never 

 uttered at any other time than while the female is 

 sitting, for instantly on the young making their 

 appearance, he becomes again perfectly mute. 

 They begin to pair in April, and build in the hole 

 of a rotten tree, laying three or four white eggs, 

 about the size of Pigeon's, on the decayed dust, 

 which if there does not happen to be any already in 

 the hole, they are said to procure by bruising the 

 sound wood into powder, by means of their bill, 

 which being very strong and powerful they easily 

 effect. During the incubation of the female, the 

 male supplies her with food, and by his song helps 

 to pass away the time, which might otherwise 

 seem too long. The young when first hatched, 

 are quite destitute of feathers: the head is very 

 large and out of proportion, and the legs too long : 

 the old birds feed them with small worms, cater- 

 pillars and insects, and when able to shift for 

 themselves, desert them and return to their soli- 

 tary haunts, till August or September ; when they 

 are again instinctively prompted to produce an- 

 other brood. 



These birds are called at St. Domingo, Le Ca- 

 legon rouge, and in other islands, Demoiselle, or 

 Dame Angloise, in which places it has been tried 

 in vain to tame them, as they refuse to eat, and 

 die in consequence. They are likewise found at 

 Cayenne, Peru, Brasil, and Mexico, 



