CRESTED TITS.

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Whether the REEDLINGS, or BEARDED TITS, as they are generally called, are really true titmice or peculiarly modified buntings is a moot-point. There is but one species, which is British, though found also on the Continent; but it is unfortunately becoming more and more rare every year. The general colour of the upper-parts is cinnamon-rufous, except the head, which is pearly grey: between the bill and the eyes hangs a tuft of long black feathers; hence the name Bearded Tit. The under-parts are white, tinged with yellow and pink, whilst the wings are variegated with white, black, and red. This tit lives in beds " " of reeds fringing the broads of the eastern counties of England, though even there it is now exceedingly rare. The same uncertainty that obtains Photo by J. T. Newman] [Berkham&ted. with regard to the position of the MARSH-TIT SEARCHING FOR INSECTS. Reedlings confronts the ornithologist The marsh-tit may be distinguished from its ally, the coal-tit, by the absence of white Wlth regard to the affinities of the on the nape of the neck. liliputian GOLD-CRESTS. About six species are known, from the northern and temperate parts of the Old and New Worlds, extending as far south in the latter as Mexico. Two occur in Britain: one, known simply as the GOLD- CREST, or GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN, is fairly common; the other, the FIRE-CREST, or FIRE-CRESTED WREN, is much rarer, but differs -very little from its relative in general appearance.

The GOLD-CREST is olive-green above, yellowish grey below, with a conspicuous crest of bright yellow and orange, banded on each side by two black lines. It has the distinction of being the smallest British bird; and it is partly on account of its smallness, and partly owing to its shy, retiring habits, seeking concealment among the foliage, that it is so seldom it all the year roundseen, save by those who know where to look for it; and these may find in suitable places. In the spring this bird may be observed suspended in the air for a considerable time over a bush or flower, singing very melodiously, though few naturalists have ever witnessed this : " I have observed the male, in the love-display. Mr. W. H. Hudson, one of these few, writes season, hovering just above the bush, in the topmost foliage of which its mate was perched and partly hidden from view. It is when engaged in this pretty aerial performance, or love-dance, that the golden-crested wren is seen at his best. The restless, minute, sober-coloured creature, so difficult to see properly at other times, then becomes a conspicuous and exceedingly beautiful object; it hovers on rapidly vibrating wings, the body in an almost vertical position, but the head bent sharply down, the eyes being fixed on the bird beneath, while the wide-open it doescrest shines in the sun like a crown or shield of fiery yellow. When thus hovering, not sing, but emits a series of sharp, excited chirping sounds."

The nest is a singularly beautiful structure, made of fine, dry grass, leaves, moss, and spiders' webs, woven closely together, lined with feathers, and suspended like a hammock fir. In this are laid from six to ten eggs of a pale yellowishbeneath a branch of yew or white, spotted and blotched with reddish brown.

The numbers of British gold-crests are vastly increased by the arrival on the eastern

Photo by C. Reid]

GREAT TIT.

Known also as the Ox-eyo; it is very pugnacious in captivity, killing birds even as large as itself.

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coast of gold-crests from the Continent. " In autumn," writes Mr. Howard Saunders, " immense flocks sometimes arrive on our east coast, extending quite across England and the Irish Channel, and into Ireland. In 1882 the migration wave of this description, commencing on August 6 and lasting for ninety-two days, reached from the Channel to the Faeroes; in 1883

...the migration lasted eighty-two days; and again in 1884 for a period of eighty-seven days. On such occasions bushes in gardens on the coast are covered with birds as with a swarm of bees; crowds flutter round the lanterns of lighthouses, and the rigging of fishing-smacks in the North Sea is thronged with weary travellers. In April a return migration occurs."

We pass now to the consideration of a few families of birds unknown in Britain, but interesting on account of the fact that they afford us another set of instances of adaptation to attain particular ends, so frequently to be met with in Nature. All the birds in question, though probably not related, have peculiarly modified tongues, apparently specially designed to aid in sucking up honey from flowers.

The first group for consideration are the HONEY-EATERS of New Zealand and Australia. So great is the transformation which the tongue in these birds has undergone, that it forms one of the most elaborate organs of its kind, surpassing even that of the Humming-birds. A description of this organ without the aid of anatomical terms and diagrams would be useless. Suffice it to say it is long, capable of being thrust out of the mouth, and brush-like. It is used to thrust up _ the tubes of honey-bearing flowers, as well for the sake of the juice as for the insects gathered in such situations to feed on it. The best known of the Honey-eaters is the POE, or PARSON- BIRD, of New Zealand. Glossy black in colour, with vived green and blue reflec-riwto by c. Reid] [Wisiiaw, N.B. tions, it is rendered still more attractive by a feathers of white tufts of pair -, -, _ - hanging, from,These birds show the white patch on the nape veiy distinctly. It is a common British bird, staying with us the whole year round. tn6 tront Upper part Ot the neck, Whilst On the back of the neck in the same region the feathers are of a loose structure, long, and curled forwards. Other honey-eaters are the WHITE-EYES,

SUN-BIRDS, and FLOWER-PECKERS.

The WHITE-EYES, so called from a ring of white feathers around the eye, have a wide distribution, being found in Australia, India, Africa, Madagascar, and Japan. Besides honey they are very partial to fruit, particularly figs and grapes, and also capture insects on the wing, after the fashion of fly-catchers.

The SUN-BIRDS correspond in the Old World to the Humming-birds in the New, having, like the latter, a metallic plumage, varied in its hues and wondrous in its beauty; but they are not entirely dependent upon this lustre for their charm, for much of their splendour is gained from the non-metallic portion of the plumage, which is often vividly

Larks, Titmice, HoneyBeaters, and their Kindred 533 coloured. The females are dull-coloured, whilst the males lose their beauty in the winter season. These birds are inhabitants of the tropical regions of Africa, India, and Australia, and seem to revel in the burning rays of the noonday sun. Nearly allied to the Sun-birds are the FLOWER-PECKERS of the Indian and Australian regions. These are all small birds, remarkable as much for the beauty of their nests as for the splendour of their plumage. The nests are purse-like structures, made of white cotton-like material, and suspended from a branch instead of, as usual, resting on it. One of the most beautiful birds of the whole group, which includes numerous species, is the Australian DIAMOND-BIRD. Of a general ashy-grey colour, this species is splashed all over with spots of red, yellow, orange, and black, whilst Photo by \V. F. Piggoit] [Leighton Buzzard RED-BACKED SHRIKES. the tail-coverts are rich dark red. Also called Butcher-birds, from their habit of killing small birds and mammals and hanging them up on thorns.

CHAPTER XVII.

SHRIKES, THRUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES,

SWALLOWS, LYRE-BIRDS, CHATTERERS,

BROAD-BILLS, ETC.

Shrike Family are an exceedingly interesting of birds, of world-wide distribution and of THEgroup great diversity of appearance, varying in size from a bird as small as a titmouse to one as large as a thrush, and presenting a considerable range of coloration, some being very brightly, others dull coloured. From the hooked beak, and the presence of a notch in the tip of the upper jaw, they were considered by the older naturalists to be allies of the Birds of Prey, a decision still further supported by their hawk-like habit of capturing living prey in the shape of small birds and mice; whilst the remarkable custom of impaling their victims, still living, on thorns has earned for them the popular name of BUTCHER-BIRDS. The limits of the family, owing to

Photo by W. Reid] _Wishaw, N.B. the diversity of the forms involved, have not as yet been

AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE. finally determined by naturalists, some having includedA common South Australian known also as the jorm, gpedes wMch otherg hold haye no place

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Five species are commonly included in the list of British birds, although only two : of these, the GREAT GREY SHRIKE visits Great Britain every winter;occur with any frequency whilst the smaller KED-BACKED SHRIKE is an annual summer visitor to those islands, breeding, however, only in England, occurring but occasionally in Scotland, and being almost unknown in Ireland, where only one specimen has ever been recorded. in which The KED-BACKED SHRIKE, writes Dr. Sharpe, " reminds us of a fly-catcher in the way [it] captures its food, for it has undoubtedly favourite perches, on which it sits, and to which it returns after the capture of an insect. It is frequently to be seen on telegraph-wires, where it keeps a sharp look-out in every direction, and a favourite resort is a field of freshly cut grass. It also captures a good many mice and small birds, not pursuing them in the open like birds of prey, but dropping down on them suddenly. In the British Museum is a very good specimen of the larder of a red-backed shrike, taken with the nest of the bird by Lord Walsingham in Norfolk, and showing the way in which the shrike spits insects and birds

... on thorns; and the species has been known to hang up birds even bigger than itself, such as blackbirds and thrushes, as well as tits of it several kinds, robins, and hedge-sparrows, while will also occasionally seize young partridges and pheasants." Though undeniably unmusical, the red-backed shrike is nevertheless able to imitate with considerable success the notes of other small birds, decoying them by this means within striking distance an accomplishment shared also by other members of the Shrike Family. The present species is attractively clothed in a plumage varied with black, grey, rufous, and chestnut-brown, the last being the predominating hue of the upper-parts; hence the name Red-backed Shrike. The habits of its congener, the GREAT GREY SHRIKE, are precisely similar. A caged specimen which had become very tame would take food from its captor's hands. When a bird was given it, the skull was invariably broken at once,L\ after which, holding the body in its claws, the If". F. Piggott] [leighton Buzzard. REED-WARBLER. shrike would proceed to tear it in pieces after the A common British bird, arriving in April, and leaving again in fashion of a hawk. Sometimes, instead, the carcase September. would be forced through the bars of the cage in lieu of thorns and then pulled in pieces.

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