_Saurothera vetula._
_Cuculus vetula_, +Linn.+—Pl. Enl. 772.
_Saurothera vetula_, +Vieill.+—Gal. Ois. 38.
[80] Length 15¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 14³⁄₁₀, flexure 4⁶⁄₁₀, tail 6³⁄₄,
rictus 2¹⁄₁₀, tarsus 1⁶⁄₁₀, middle toe 1²⁄₁₀. Intestine 16 inches,
very tender; two cæca, about 2 inches long. Irides hazel; orbits
scarlet. The sexes exactly alike.
Interesting to myself, as being the first bird that I obtained in
Jamaica, I mention the fact, because the mode in which I procured it is
illustrative of one of its most remarkable characteristics. A day or
two after my arrival, I was taking a ramble with a little lad, who was
delighted to be my pioneer and assistant; we had climbed a hill which
was clothed with large timber, so densely matted with lianes and briers
as to be almost impenetrable. We had, however, got into the thickest of
it, when a large and handsome bird with a long tail, beautifully barred
with black and white, appeared on a low shrub within a few feet of
us, watching our motions with much apparent interest. My little friend
informed me that it was a Rainbird, but that it had received also the
title of _Tom Fool_, from its silly habit of gratifying its curiosity,
instead of securing its safety. Without wasting many words, however,
the youth picked up a “rock-stone,” as pebbles are called in Jamaica,
and delivered the missile with so skilful an aim, that the bird dropped
to the ground, and became the first-fruits of an ornithological
collection.
I have often seen the bird since, and always with the same manners,
jumping from twig to twig, or climbing with facility up the slender
stems of the young trees, gazing at the intruder; and if driven away,
flying only a few yards, and again peeping as before. It is little seen
except where the woods are high, but is widely scattered on mountain as
well as lowland.
The wings are remarkably short and hollow, like those of the
Gallinaceæ, the bird displaying the unusual phenomenon of a length
greater than the expanse. Conformably to this, the bird is seldom seen
to fly except from tree to tree; more usually leaping in a hurried
manner along the branches, or proceeding up the perpendicular bole by
short jumps. When it does fly, it glides nearly in a straight line,
without flapping the wings. It often sits on a branch in a remarkable
posture, the head lower than the feet, and the long tail hanging nearly
perpendicularly downward. When sitting it now and then utters a loud
and harsh cackle, unvarying in note, but increasing in the rapidity
of its emission; and sometimes this sound is produced during its short
flights. All the time of this effusion, the beak is held widely opened.
It may be imitated in some degree, by repeating the syllables, _ticky
ticky ticky_, for about a minute, as rapidly as they can be uttered.
It is frequently seen on the ground in morasses and woods, when it
proceeds by a succession of bounds, the long tail held somewhat high,
the head low: the tail is jerked forward by the impulse at each pause
of motion; and the whole action is like that of the _Crotophaga_.
When held, it is fierce, trying with widely opened beak to bite, and
uttering angry screams; the tail expanded. A male, which had been
knocked down with a stone, but not much hurt, on being put into a cage,
was outrageous when one’s hand was placed near the wires, dashing from
side to side, now and then snapping at the hand, and snarling all the
while, exactly in the tone of an angry puppy.
It is extremely retentive of life; sometimes when a wounded one has
come into my possession, I have been distressed at the vain efforts
that I have made to deprive it of life, without absolute destruction of
the specimen. The craw is large and protuberant, below the sternum, and
is usually much distended. I have found in various individuals large
caterpillars, locusts, _phasmata_, spiders, _phryni_, a _whole mouse_,
lizards, &c. Robinson found in one a large Green Anolis, eight inches
long, coiled up in a spiral manner, the head being in the centre. He
says it bruises the heads of lizards, and then swallows them head
foremost, and the stomach being of a roundish form, he conjectures that
the lizard must necessarily be coiled in this manner. Mr. Hill had one
alive for several weeks; it seized cockroaches and other insects, when
put into its box, and ate fresh meat, if chopped small.
I know nothing of the nest, except what the following note may
afford. A young friend informs me that he once observed a Rainbird
carrying “trash” into the hollow or fork of the divergent limbs of a
logwood tree. Some little while after, passing that way, he observed
a nest-like accumulation of similar substances, but as it was beyond
reach, he took a long stick to poke it out. In doing so, he pushed
out an egg, which was about as long as that of the Tinkling, but not
so broad: its colour white with many spots, but he had no distinct
recollection of what hue they were.
“When pairing,” observes Mr. Hill, “the male bird attracts the female
by gracefully displaying his plumage. His long graduated tail, which
insensibly blends tints of drab-grey with black, and terminates with
a border of white, is then seen expanded. The short rufous wings are
spread out, and the whole plumage, from the sage-grey, hair-like,
downy web of the back, to the soft, dull yellow under feathers, are in
motion, as the bird endeavours by playful dalliance to win his mate’s
attention.”