Jean Munro, age 14, of South Portland, Maine, for her question:

What kind of bird is an ani?

Spanish explorers borrowed the word ani from Portuguese explorers    who learned it from the Tupi people dwelling along the Amazon River. We do not know its original meaning. But the Tupis used it to name certain shiny black birds that flock together in the native forests. Zoologists cla§sify them as relatives of the cuckoo    a bird

with a poor reputation as a parent. This stigma does not apply to the anis. Far from it.

These birds have some original ideas that earn them a top rating in the department of child care.

The anis are New World birds of South and Central America, the West Indies and the southern fringes of North America. Most of them are the size of jaybirds, though the great ani is larger. There are three recognized species, all wearing glossy black plumage that tends to glisten in the sunshine. Their most unusual bills are designed for coping with a diet of insects. Instead of being wide, as in most birds, the two sides are compressed to make them high and narrow. The bill of an ani is an arched blade, and very sharp.

The character of the ani is also unusual. Many birds are socially minded and share much of their lives with flocks of relatives. But none are so fond of community life as the sociable anis. A flock of 10 to 20 birds share every aspect of life. During the day, they fly very close together, following every swerve of the leader. Now and then they rest, perched close together on the same bush. Should an intruder walk by, together they flop and flap lazily back on the wing, squawking their high pitched cries. At dusk, the friendly flock retires to roost, huddling together in a close cluster in a favorite bush.

Many other birds prefer a similar sort of life until the time comes to pair off to raise their individual families. This is when the anis prove their most unusual feature. The parents do not raise separate families. Every member of the flock helps to build one large community nest, a rather shaggy affair of sticks perched in a bush. All the females, maybe 20 of them, lay their eggs in the same nest. All the anis, male and female, share the duties of incubating the eggs. And later, all the adult anis share the duties of feeding and tending the community nest of squawking chicks. Certainly no ani chick can complain of being lonely or deprived of adult attention.

The anis are classified in the Family Cuculidae, which relates them to the cuckoos. This may seem strange, for the European cuckoo is well known to be a parasite parent. She lays her eggs in the nests of other birds, placing her children out for adoption. The cuckoos of North America do not do this    at least not very often. But those charming anis do more than their share to redeem the cuckoo family reputation in the parenthood department.