684 
CATALOGUE. 
considerable resemblance to that bird in its mode of running, of 
croucbing, and secreting itself in bushes, and from its taking wing 
in the same bustling way. It feeds upon insects, grubs, and, when 
opportunity occurs, upon carrion." — (C. "W. Smith.) 
" In the Tenasserim provinces this is one of the commonest inha- 
bitants near human abodes." — (Dr. Heifer.) 
" In Ceylon it is universally distributed. On the ground it 
marches about with a pompous air and outspread tail, scanning every 
blade of grass, and making short but rapid darts upon the various 
insects which fly up at its approach. "When of its own free will it 
resorts to a tree, it flies slowly, sailing along on its rounded wings, 
frequently progressing sideways : on reaching its destination, it jerks 
up its tail, uttering its monotonous cry of wJioot, whoot, wlioot, and 
climbs about the branches, beating the bark for Fhasmicd and other 
insects, which trust to their resemblance to the vegetable world for 
escape from the biUs of their numerous enemies. On being alarmed, 
it scrambles rapidly to the summit of the tree in perfect silence, and 
glides away in a contrary direction to that whence the cause of its 
terror sprimg." — (E. L. Layard.) 
" Not an uncommon bird about Labuan, frequenting low damp 
places, &c." — (Messrs. Motley and Dillwyn.) 
" Nest placed in dense trees, being a neat but loose structure of 
twigs domed, and with aperture in the side lined with dried leaves. 
Eggs pure white : June ; four; oval." — (W. Theobald, Junr.) 
" The sexes of this bird do not difier in size nor plumage. It 
inhabits the most dense trees. Its call is a deep-toned Tioop, hoop, 
Jioop. A snake 8 inches long, a lizard 13 inches long (the head of the 
latter being in the stomach, and partly decomposed, and the rest in 
the oesophagus), many grasshoppers, bugs, beetles, and small lizards, 
were found in the stomachs of several specimens. Tongue broad and 
fleshy, with a concave notch at the tip ; irides rich lake. In a spe- 
cimen examined anatomically, the intestinal canal was 22 inches long ; 
duodenum a little wider than the intestine ; colon 3 inches long ; 
caeca linear club-shaped, 2 inches long ; liver of two lobes, without 
fissures, one of them very considerably larger than the other ; gall- 
bladder not observed ; spleen 1 inch long, subligulate, of a reddish 
colour; stomach very large, a mere bag. The following were the 
contents of the stomach of this solitary bird; viz., 18 slugs {Limax), 
each fully an inch long ; a grasshopper 3 inches long ; a bug, two 
beetles, and a centipede 2\ inches long." — (Col. Sykes, MS. Eeports 
on the Dukhun, p. 381, 1831.) 
