CHAPTER XV.

_THE PERCHING-BIRDS._

Such an enormous host are included under this head--nearly 6,000 out of the total of 13,000 known birds--and so great are the difficulties connected with their systematic arrangement, that it has been considered best to begin the present chapter with the highest instead of the lowest types of the group.

The extensive group of Perching-birds is defined mainly from the characters afforded by the structure of the voice-organ, and these are of much too technical a nature to be discussed here. Suffice it to say that, on account of these characters, the group is further divided into two sections, and each section again divided into two.

THE CROWS, ORIOLES, FINCHES, AND THEIR ALLIES.

At the head of the tribe stands, by general though by no means universal consent, the Crow Family, of which the recognised chief is the RAVEN, a bird which has for thousands of years commanded a more than passing interest amongst mankind. Renowned as the truant from the Ark, or as the wonderful minister of the prophet Elijah, there are few even of the youngest amongst us who do not know of its striking personality. The poet and the dramatist have both made use of the raven, and it would seem that it has even found a place in the mythology of the Red Indian. The smaller relatives of this celebrated bird, the ROOK, the CARRION-CROW, and the JACKDAW, and more distantly the JAY and the MAGPIE, are doubtless as familiar to our readers as the raven.

Although probably unknown to many, the CHOUGH, with its glossy black plumage and brilliant red bill and feet, is a British bird, and lives still in certain parts of England, though fast verging on extinction.

Another very remarkable member of the family is the HUIA, and this on account of the fact that the male and female differ markedly in respect of the shape of the bill, this being in the female long and sickle-shaped, and in the male short and cone-shaped. This bird frequents the wooded regions of North Island, New Zealand, living upon grubs found in decaying wood, and on berries. The female procures the grubs by probing the holes which they have made in the sounder wood, the male by breaking away the decayed portions of the tree; but occasionally it happens that, having cleared away as much of the decayed material as possible, the latter is unable to reach his prey, in which case he calls up the female, and yields his find to her, to extricate with her longer bill. So great a difference in the form of the bill in the sexes of the same species is elsewhere unknown among birds.

The Crows hold the important position of head of the Class birds, yet they are far outshone in splendour by many of the groups already examined, though, with the exception perhaps of the Humming-birds, these all pale before the BIRDS OF PARADISE.

Varying in size from a crow to a thrush, the best known of the latter is the GREAT BIRD OF PARADISE, which was discovered towards the end of the sixteenth century, if not earlier. On their first discovery it was popularly supposed that these birds lived in the air, turning always to the sun, and never alighting on the earth till they died, for they had neither feet nor wings. Hence the Malay traders called them "God's Birds," the Portuguese "Birds of the Sun," and the Dutch "Paradise-birds." Seventeen or eighteen inches long, these birds have the body, wings, and tail of a rich coffee-brown, which deepens on the breast to a blackish violet or purple-brown. The top of the head and neck are of a delicate straw-yellow, the feathers being short and close-set, resembling velvet. The throat-feathers have a scaly appearance, and are emerald-green in colour. The flank-feathers on either side of the body form a dense mass of long, delicate, waving plumes, sometimes 2 feet in length, of an intense orange colour, and shining with a wonderful gloss. These feathers can be raised and spread out at pleasure, so as to almost conceal the wearer in a fountain-like rain of feathers. This wonderful plumage is worn by the male only, the female being quite plainly dressed. In May, when they are in full dress, the males assemble early in the morning to exhibit themselves, forming what are known as "dancing-parties," which take place on the topmost boughs of some giant tree. "From a dozen to twenty birds assemble together," writes Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, "raise up their wings, stretch out their necks, and elevate their exquisite plumes, keeping them in continual vibration. Between-whiles they fly across from branch to branch in great excitement, so that the whole tree is filled with waxing plumes in every variety of attitude and motion." The native hunter marks these playing-places, builds a shelter of palm-leaves in a convenient situation among the branches, and ensconces himself under it before daylight, armed with a bow and a number of arrows terminating in a round knob. When the dance is in full swing, he shoots through the roof of his shelter with the blunt arrows, stunning every bird he strikes, which, falling down at once, are immediately picked up by a boy in waiting below. Often a considerable number will be thus secured before the alarm is taken.

Without coloured figures, or very numerous photographs from living birds, which we can hardly hope to get, it would be impossible, except at the risk of being wearisome, to describe all the wonderful combinations of form and colour which the feathers of the birds of paradise display. Breast-shields of metallic sheen, fans and crests in wonderful variety, feathers of a texture like velvet, or gorgeous colours, confuse one in their variety and combination. Let it suffice to mention only the last discovered species--the KING OF SAXONY'S BIRD OF PARADISE. "Velvety black above," writes Dr. Sharpe, "and yellowish below, there is nothing very striking in the aspect of the bird itself, which is smaller than our song-thrush. But the 'streamers' which it carries! Poised ... on either side of the head is a long, shaft-like plume, from which depends, on the lower side only, a series of little flags of blue enamel, each quite separate from the one which precedes it, and not of a feathery structure in the least."

Close allies of the Birds of Paradise are the remarkable BOWER-BIRDS of Australia. Conspicuously beautiful in coloration as are some members of this tribe, they are celebrated not so much on this account as for an extraordinary habit of constructing "bowers" or "playing-grounds"--a trait which appears absolutely unique among birds. "These constructions," observes Mr. Gould, "consist in a collection of pieces of stick or grass, formed into a bower; or one of them (that of the SPOTTED BOWER-BIRD) might be called an avenue, being about 3 feet in length, and 7 or 8 inches broad inside; a transverse section giving the figure of a horse-shoe, the round part downwards. They are used by the birds as a playing-house, or 'run,' as it is termed, and are used by the males to attract the females. The 'run' of the SATIN-BIRD is much smaller, being less than 1 foot in length, and, moreover, differs from that just described in being decorated with the highly coloured feathers of the Parrot Tribe. The SPOTTED BOWER-BIRD, on the other hand, collects around its 'run' a quantity of stones, shells, bleached bones, etc.; they are also strewed down the centre within."

More wonderful still are the structures reared by the GARDENER-BIRD of New Guinea, presenting, as Professor Newton remarks, "not only a modification of bower-building, but an appreciation of beauty perhaps unparalleled in the animal world.... This species ... builds at the foot of a small tree a kind of hut or cabin ... some 2 feet in height, roofed with orchid-stems that slope to the ground, regularly radiating from the central support, which is covered with a conical mass of moss, and sheltering a gallery around it. One side of this hut is left open, and in front of it is arranged a bed of verdant moss, bedecked with blossoms and berries of the brightest colours. As these ornaments wither they are removed to a heap behind the hut, and replaced by others that are fresh. The hut is circular and some 3 feet in diameter, and the mossy lawn in front of it nearly twice that expanse. Each hut and garden are, it is believed, though not known, the work of a single pair of birds, or perhaps of the male only; and it may be observed that this species, as its trivial name implies, is wholly inornate in plumage. Not less remarkable is the more recently described 'bower' of the GOLDEN BOWER-BIRD.... This structure is said ... to be piled up almost horizontally around the base of a tree to the height of from 4 to 6 feet, and around it are a number of hut-like fabrics, having the look of a dwarfed native camp." Allied species, though building no bowers, yet clear a space of ground some 8 or 9 feet in diameter, on which to display themselves, and ornament this with little heaps of gaily tinted leaves, replacing them as they fade with fresh specimens.

We pass next to the birds of the Starling Family, of which the BRITISH STARLING is the type. A bird so familiar needs no description here; but we may draw attention to the many interesting phases of plumage this species undergoes.

The first plumage is a uniform greyish brown. Later black feathers, with large white spots at the tips, make their appearance among the brown. These spotted feathers eventually replace the brown, and the bird enters upon a second quite distinct phase--a black, spotted with white. Gradually this gives place to a plumage entirely unspotted, the feathers on the breast being spear-shaped. In the adult dress a wondrous variety of metallic reflections is acquired--green, purple, and violet.

Associating in the autumn and winter in large flocks, starlings move from place to place in search of food. Sometimes the number of birds in these combined flocks rises to an enormous figure. One of the largest of these gatherings recorded in England existed on the property of the late Mr. Miles near Bristol. "This locality is an evergreen plantation ... covering some acres, to which these birds repair of an evening ... by millions, from the low grounds about the Severn, where their noise and stench are something altogether unusual. By packing in such myriads upon evergreens, they have stripped them of their leaves, except just at the tops, and have driven the pheasants, for whom the plantation was intended, quite away from the ground. In the daytime, when the birds are not there, the stench is still excessive. Mr. Miles was about to cut the whole plantation down, to get rid of them, two years ago, but I begged him not to do so, on account of the curiosity of the scene, and he has since been well pleased that he abstained."

A similar but still larger congregation has been described; in this, about the year 1845, from 150,000 to 200,000 starlings were computed to rest every night, between the end of October and the end of March, in certain trees in the gardens of the Zoological Society in Dublin. The roof of St. Patrick's Cathedral, in the heart of Dublin, has from time to time been resorted to, as many as 2,000 seeking shelter there. "Possessing very considerable powers of wing," observes Yarrell, "these are turned to account in an extraordinary manner by the birds composing the flock. They wheel, close, open out, rise and descend, as if each were obeying a commander, and all this is done with the utmost marvellous precision while the flock is proceeding at a rapid pace through the air. At times it may extend in a long and nearly straight thread; suddenly an undulation is visible along the line, and in a moment it takes the form of a thin and smoke-like cloud; another moment, and it is a dense and almost perfect globe; then possibly, having preserved this appearance for a perceptibly longer time, it becomes pear-shaped, and in another instant has assumed a spiral figure; an instant after it has spread out like a sheet, and its members are streaming softly along the ground, perhaps to alight, or perhaps once more to mount aloft and circle as before." There are few more magnificent sights in the world than a flock of starlings when performing evolutions of this kind.

Differing much, not only in general appearance, but also in coloration, from the common starling is the ROSE-COLOURED STARLING, so called from the beautiful rose-pink colour of the back and breast, set off by the rest of the plumage, which is black, glossed with violet, blue, and green reflections. This handsome bird occasionally visits Britain. Feeding largely upon locusts, these birds are much affected in their movements by the peregrinations of these pests; and this accounts for the sporadic appearance of the rose-coloured starling in huge flocks in places where it is generally seldom seen.

Dull in appearance, ungraceful in flight, and with a harsh, unmusical note, the starling known as the OX-PECKER would seem at first sight to have little to recommend it; yet it is one of the benefactors of the larger African mammals, clearing them of flies and other insect-pests. Buffaloes, rhinoceroses, elephants, are alike grateful for its services, as it climbs about their huge bodies, picking off the liliputian enemies by which they are beset. But little appears to be known of the breeding-habits of these birds.

In strong contrast to the dull-looking Ox-birds are the beautiful GLOSSY STARLINGS and GRACKLES. The AFRICAN GLOSSY STARLINGS, indeed, represent the most beautiful of all the members of the Starling Tribe. In one of the handsomest and best-known species--the LONG-TAILED GLOSSY STARLING--metallic green and purple-violet are the predominating tones in the plumage, glossed with copper reflections, and relieved by black or darker bars of green and purple. In another species--the GREEN GLOSSY STARLING of Eastern Africa--the shimmer of the plumage is so wonderful that the exact shades of colour are difficult to describe, in that they change completely, according to the light in which the bird is held.

The GRACKLES, or HILL-MYNAS, are Indian birds, with glossy black plumage, relieved by bare flaps of yellow skin projecting backwards from the head immediately behind the eye. These birds make excellent pets, learning both to whistle and talk.

We come now to the beautiful ORIOLES--birds belonging to the temperate and tropical parts of the Old World. The males, as a rule, are clad in a vestment of brilliant yellow and black, but in some species the under-parts are relieved by rich crimson. One species--the GOLDEN ORIOLE--has on several occasions visited the British Islands, and even in one or two instances has nested there. But, as with all brightly plumaged birds in England, no sooner is their presence discovered than they are doomed to fall to the gun of some local collector.

The HANG-NESTS, COW-BIRDS, and RICE-BIRDS are American birds, bearing in many respects a resemblance to the Starlings, chiefly, perhaps, in the form of the beak. Generally black in plumage, in many bright colour is conspicuous.

HANG-NESTS range from North and Central America to Southern Brazil. As a rule they are brilliantly coloured, the livery being bright orange and yellow, set off by black and white. The majority of the numerous species build remarkable nests, looking like long stockings, which they hang from the under side of the bough of a tree; they are composed of coarse grass deftly woven together.

The COW-BIRDS are mostly South American, though the United States possess two or three species. Some, like the Cuckoos, are parasitic, dropping their eggs into the nests of other birds, to be hatched by the owners: the young cow-bird, however, dwells in harmony with his foster-brothers and -sisters, instead of ejecting them from the nest, like the young cuckoo. The name Cow-bird is bestowed upon these birds on account of the persistent way in which they haunt herds of cattle for the sake of the flies which congregate about those animals.

The RICE-BIRDS are represented by some rather showy forms, and others of wonderful powers of song. The typical RICE-BIRD, or BOB-O-LINK, is an especial favourite as a songster. Thoreau writes of this song: "It is as if he [the bird] touched his harp with a wave of liquid melody, and when he lifted it out the notes fell like bubbles from the strings.... Away he launched, and the meadow is all bespattered with melody." Where rice is extensively cultivated, however, this bird is by no means so enthusiastically welcomed, causing immense destruction to the standing crops--flocks numbering, it has been said, some millions alighting in the fields and leaving too little grain to be worth the trouble of gathering.

We pass now to a group of exceedingly interesting birds, some of which are remarkable on account of the beauty of their plumage, others from their wonderful nesting-habits. The group includes many familiar as cage-birds, such as the LONG-TAILED WIDOW-BIRDS, the RED-BEAKED WAXBILLS, AMADAVATS, JAVA SPARROW, GRASS-FINCHES, MUNIAS, and so on, all of which are embraced under the general title of WEAVER-BIRDS, a name bestowed on account of their peculiar nests.

Abundant in Africa, and well represented in South-eastern Asia and Australia, these birds bear a strong family resemblance to the Finches, from which they differ in having ten primary quills in the wings.

One of the most peculiar is the South African LONG-TAILED WHYDAH- or WIDOW-BIRD. Strikingly coloured, this bird is rendered still more attractive by the extremely elongated tail-feathers, which are many times longer than the body, so long, indeed, as to impede its flight, which is so laboured that children commonly amuse themselves by running the bird down. Kaffir children stretch lines coated with bird-lime near the ground across fields of millet and Kaffir corn, and thereby capture many whose tails have become entangled among the threads.

In brilliancy of coloration the Whydah-birds--for there are several species--are pressed hard by the BISHOP-BIRDS, the handsomest of which is the red species. Sociable in habits, this bird throughout the year consorts in immense flocks, which in the summer consist chiefly of males.

Of the more remarkable nest-builders, the most conspicuous are the BAYA SPARROWS, or TODDY-BIRDS, of India and Ceylon, and the SOCIABLE WEAVERS. The former suspend their nests by a solidly wrought rope of fibre from the under side of a branch, the rope expanding into a globular chamber, and then again contracting into a long, narrow, vertical tube, through which the birds make their exit and entrance. The latter--the SOCIABLE WEAVER-BIRD of Africa--builds a still more wonderful structure. As a thing apart it has no existence, a number of birds, varying from 100 to 300, joining their nests together, so as to form a closely interwoven structure, resembling, when finished, a gigantic mushroom. The structure is built among the branches of large trees, so that the tree looks as though it had grown up through a native hut, carrying the roof with it. Cartloads of grass are required to rear this structure, which is nearly solid. Seen from below, it presents a flat surface riddled with holes; these are the entrances to the nests.

Closely resembling the typical Finches in general appearance, and often gorgeous in coloration, is the group known as the TANAGERS, of which more than 400 distinct species are known to science. Exclusively American, the majority of the species are found in Central and South America, though a few move northwards into the United States in summer. The most beautiful are the SCARLET, CRIMSON-HEADED, and WHITE-CAPPED TANAGERS. The last-named is generally allowed to be the loveliest of the group. The entire plumage of both sexes is a beautiful cornflower-blue, surmounted by a cap of silvery-white feathers, a crimson spot on the forehead looking like a drop of blood. The identical coloration of the sexes is worth noting, as among the tanagers generally the female is dull-coloured.

Among the Finches there is a considerable variety of coloration, though but little in bodily form; they are all attractive birds, and have the additional advantage that many are British. Distributed over both the northern and temperate regions of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, they are unknown in Australia. The group, which comprises a very large number of species, may be divided into three sections--GROSBEAKS, TRUE FINCHES, and BUNTINGS.

The GROSBEAKS, as their name implies, are characterised by the great stoutness of the beak, and some, as the EVENING-GROSBEAKS of America, are remarkable for their beauty.

Well-known British members of this section are the HAWFINCHES and GREENFINCHES. Common in many parts of England, though rare in Scotland and Ireland, the HAWFINCH contrives to make itself much disliked by the gardener, owing to its fondness for peas, though it fully compensates for the damage done in this direction by the numbers of noxious insects it destroys. The nest is a very beautiful structure; outside it is composed of twigs intermixed with lichens, inside of dry grasses lined with fine roots and hair. The site chosen varies, a favourite place being an old apple- or pear-tree in an orchard; but the woods and fir plantations are not seldom resorted to. The GREENFINCH is an equally common British bird. Of a more confiding disposition than the hawfinch, it makes an excellent cage-bird, becoming with judicious treatment exceedingly tame. It is a useful bird, travelling during the autumn and winter in large flocks, and feeding on the seeds of wild mustard and other weeds. Its nest differs conspicuously from that of the hawfinch, being a somewhat untidy structure, composed of fibrous roots, moss, and wool, lined with finer roots, horsehair, and feathers.

Among the TRUE FINCHES, distinguished from the Grosbeaks by their less powerful bills, are several other well-known British birds. Of these, none are better known than the CHAFFINCH. Gay in appearance and sprightly in habit, this is a general favourite everywhere, and much in demand as a cage-bird. His short though delightful song possesses a peculiar charm, coming as it does with the earliest signs of returning spring. The fascination of this song has never been better expressed than in Browning's lines:--

O to be in England Now that April's there; And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs of the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree hole are in tiny leaf, While the Chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England now!

The nest, which is an exceptionally beautiful structure, takes about a fortnight to build. Closely woven, it appears to consist mainly of wool, into which moss and lichens of various colours are deftly woven. The outside is cunningly decorated with bits of lichen and the inner bark of trees, such as the birch, the whole being secured by a thin veil of spiders' webs. The lichen and bark serve to render the nest inconspicuous by blending it with the general appearance of the bush or small tree in a forked bough of which it is placed. Inside the wool is more closely felted even than on the outside, and this is covered with fine hairs, amongst which a few feathers are intermixed. The work of building seems to be done by the female only, though the male helps by bringing the materials.

Of the GOLDFINCH, LINNETS, and BULLFINCH, by far the most popular and beautiful is the GOLDFINCH, which is, and probably will long remain, one of the most prized of cage-birds. Gifted "with the fatal gift of beauty," this bird is much persecuted by bird-catchers; and indeed, partly owing to the depredations of these men, and partly to improved methods of agriculture, which have diminished its feeding-area, this handsome bird is growing more and more rare every year.

Next to the goldfinch perhaps the LINNET is most sought after as a cage-bird. Large numbers are taken during the autumn, when the birds congregate in large flocks before departure on migration. Those captured in the spring are said to be very impatient of confinement, and only a small percentage seem to survive.

The linnet is one of the most variable of birds in the matter of plumage, and for a long while the opinion was generally held, especially by bird-catchers, that several distinct species--the RED, BROWN, and GREY LINNETS--existed. It is now known that these are all phases of plumage common to one species. In the male in full summer dress the forehead and centre of the crown are blood-red, whilst the breast is of a glossy rose-red; but these bright colours do not seem to be acquired so universally as is the case with other birds which don a special breeding-dress, nor are they ever developed in captivity. Occasionally what are called LEMON-BREASTED varieties of the linnet occur in which the rose-colour of the breast is replaced by yellow.

The BULLFINCH, though one of the common British birds, is by no means so abundant as the two foregoing species; for whilst the other two travel in small flocks, the bullfinch is a solitary bird. Few birds perhaps have earned a more evil name than the bullfinch, which is accused by the gardener of inflicting enormous damage on the flower-buds of fruit-trees in winter and spring. "On the other hand," writes Mr. Hudson, "he is greatly esteemed as a cage-bird, and the bird-catchers are ever on the watch for it. But the effect in both cases is pretty much the same, since the hatred that slays and the love that makes captive are equally disastrous to the species." That it is diminishing in many districts there can be no doubt, and perhaps its final extermination is only a matter of time. Though by no means a remarkable songster in a wild state, in captivity it is capable of learning to whistle strains and airs of human composition with some skill, good performers fetching high prices.

The SPARROW and the wild CANARY of Madeira--from the latter of which our cage-pets have been derived--are also members of the Finch Tribe, but are too well known to need fuller mention.

Closely allied to the Finches are the BUNTINGS, which are really only slightly modified finches. Several species are British birds, one of the commonest being the CORN-BUNTING, a bird which bears a wonderful resemblance to a skylark, from which, however, it may be distinguished by its large beak and small claw on the hind toe.

The YELLOWAMMER, or YELLOWHAMMER, is another familiar roadside form in England, which scarcely needs description.

The most celebrated of all the buntings is the ORTOLAN, or GREEN-HEADED BUNTING, a bird resembling its congener the yellowhammer, but lacking its bright coloration. It has acquired fame from the delicate flavour of its flesh, and to supply the demand for this delicacy immense numbers are netted annually by the bird-catchers of the Continent. Wintering in North Africa, these birds leave Europe in September in large flocks, and it is during this migration and the return journey in the spring that their ranks are so mercilessly thinned. Common over the greater part of Europe, it is somewhat surprising that the ortolan does not occur more frequently in the British Islands, where it is only an occasional spring and autumn visitor.

The SNOW-BUNTING, or SNOWFLAKE, is a regular winter visitant to the British Islands, some pairs indeed remaining to breed in the Highlands of Scotland every year, whilst its presence serves to enliven some of the dreariest spots of high northern latitudes. The male in breeding-dress is a handsome bird, having the upper-parts black and the under white; its mate is somewhat duller, the black parts being obscured by greyish white, fulvous, and blackish brown, whilst the white parts are less pure in tone. The full dress of the male is rarely seen in the British Islands, save in specimens procured from Scotland; for in winter, when the snow-bunting is chiefly captured, the plumage is altogether more rufous.

Unlike the buntings so far described, the REED-BUNTING is to be found only in marshy places, but in suitable localities it may be found in the British Islands all the year round, being as common a species as the corn-bunting, and therefore not calling for special description here.

The eggs of the buntings are remarkable for the curious scribble-like markings which cover them, and serve readily to distinguish them from those of any other British bird.

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