part ii
. p. 274.
Adult Male. Plate CLVIII.
Bill of moderate length, rather stout, straight, broad at the base, compressed towards the end; upper mandible with the dorsal outline a little convex, the sides convex, the edges sharp and nearly perpendicular, with a very small notch close upon the small deflected tip; lower mandible with the back broad, the sides rounded, the edges sharp and inflected. Nostrils basal, lateral, oblong, partly covered by the bristly feathers. Head rather large, depressed, neck short, body rather slender. Feet rather short; tarsus compressed, rather sharp before and behind, anteriorly covered with broad scutella; toes free, the hind toe not proportionally larger; claws slightly arched, compressed, acute.
Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed. Basirostral bristles strong. Wings rather long, second quills longest, third a little shorter, first almost as long as third, all the three curiously cut into near the end, with a sharp sinus, the rest of the quills to the tip being extremely slender. Tail with the lateral feather extremely elongated, very deeply forked, the middle feathers being of ordinary length, the intermediate ones graduated.
Bill and feet black. Iris dusky. Head and cheeks deep black, the feathers of the crown deep yellow at the base, that colour being visible only when the crest is elevated. The back is ash-grey, becoming darker behind, so that the tail-feathers are blackish-brown, margined with grey. Wing-coverts and quills blackish-brown, slightly margined with grey, as is the tail, of which, however, the outer web of the lateral feather is white for half its length from the base. The lower parts are white.
Length 14¼ inches, extent of wings 14; bill along the ridge 7/12, along the edge 10/12; tarsus 7½/12. Outer tail-feathers 10, the next 4¾, the middle ones 2½.
The Female resembles the Male.
GORDONIA LASIANTHUS, _Willd._ Sp. Pl. vol. iii. p. 840. _Pursh_, Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 451.—MONODELPHIA POLYANDRIA, _Linn._
This beautiful small tree is met with in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, in moist lands near the coast, and never fails to attract the eye by its beautiful blossoms. The twig from which the drawing was made was procured from the garden of Mr NOISETTE, who liberally afforded me all the aid in his power for embellishing my plates. The leaves are evergreen, lanceolato-oblong, shining, and leathery; the flowers white, of the size of the common garden-rose, and placed on long peduncles; the capsules conical and acuminate.
THE MANGROVE CUCKOO.
_COCCYZUS SENICULUS_, NUTTALL.
PLATE CLXIX. MALE.
A few days after my arrival at Key West in the Floridas, early in the month of May, Major GLASSEL of the United States' Army presented me with a specimen of this bird, which had been killed by one of the soldiers belonging to the garrison. I had already observed many Cuckoos in the course of my walks through the tangled woods of that curious island; but as they seemed to be our Common Yellow-billed species, I passed them without paying much attention to them. The moment this specimen was presented to me however, I knew that it was a species unknown to me, and thought, as I have on many occasions had reason to do, how vigilant the student of nature ought to be, when placed in a country previously unvisited by him. The bird was immediately drawn, and I afterwards shot several others, all precisely corresponding with it.
The habits of the Mangrove Cuckoo I found to be much the same as those of our two other well known species. Like them, it is fond of sucking the eggs of all kinds of birds in the absence of their owners, and also feeds on fruits and various species of insects. It is, however, more vigilant and shy, and does not extend its migrations northward beyond the eastern capes of the Floridas, appearing, indeed, to confine itself mostly to the islets covered with mangroves, among the sombre foliage of which trees it usually builds its nest and rears its young. It retires southward in the beginning of September, according to the accounts of it which I received in the country.
The nest is slightly constructed of dry twigs, and is almost flat, nearly resembling that of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which I have already described. The eggs are of the same number and form as those of that species, but somewhat larger. It raises two broods in the season, and feeds its young on insects until they are able to go abroad.
The White-headed Pigeon is frequently robbed of its eggs by this plunderer, and it is alleged by the fishermen and wreckers that it destroys the squabs when yet very young, but I saw no instance of this barbarous propensity. One which had been caught in its nest, and which I saw placed in a cage, refused all kinds of food, and soon died. This, however proved to me the great affection which they have towards their eggs. Their flight is much like that of the other species described by me, perhaps only more rapid and elevated when they are proceeding to some distant place.
COCCYZUS SENICULUS, _Nuttall_, Manual,