He was from Madagascar. He was also known as a Snail-eating Coucal. He liked eating land snails, as his name implies. It only was known to science as a living bird for a very short time in the 19th century. Life got difficult quickly: its habitat was destroyed by deforestation, it had to compete for food with non-native invasive black rats, and it was hunted by non-native introduced cats. It was the second-largest coucal around, and pretty spectacular, and therefore pretty sought after as a museum piece. It was gone by the end of the nineteenth century.
