Kookaburra

short neck, short legs stout, compact body rather long, pointed bill from Kingfishers family woodland areas of eastern and south western Australia Laughing Jackass of Australia the upper parts dark brown the wings spotted gray-blue a white band separates the head from the body a dark stripe through eye the under parts are white the strong bill is black rolling, laughing call one of the best-known sounds in the animal world raise a wild chorus of crazy laughter as they go to roost in the treetops at dusk wake everyone within hearing just as dawn breaks in the hinterlands of Australia known as the 'bushman's clock' The Australian aborigines have a legend when the sun rose for the first time the god Bayame ordered the kookaburra to utter its loud, almost human laughter in order to wake up mankind so that they should not miss the wonderful sunrise and that any child who insulted a kookaburra would grow an extra slanting tooth