The Living Animals of the World, Volume II: Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, Fishes, Jointed Animals, Molluscs, etc.

Photo by Sillinglon] [Queensland. PHEASANT-CUCKOO. The hind toe terminates in a spur-like claw; hence these cuckoos are known as Lark-heeled Cuckoos.

of the World The Living Animals496 confirmed by most trustworthy observers, we must now admit the charge proved. One of the best known of these accounts is that of Mrs. Hugh Blackburn. She has given us a vivid picture of this most extraordinary of domestic tragedies. The victims in this instance were meadow-pipits. Finding a pipit's nest with a cuckoo's egg therein, she kept it carefully under observation. At one visit she found the pipits hatched, but not the cuckoo. Forty-eight hours later the cuckoo had not only arrived, but ousted his foster-brothers and -sisters, who were found lying outside the nest, but yet alive. They were replaced beside the cuckoo, which at once reopened hostilities for the purpose of maintaining its absolute possession of the nursery. This it did by burrowing under one of them, which, balanced upon its back, it proceeded to eject by climbing up the nest tail-foremost, till, reaching the brim, it could relieve itself of its burden by heaving it over the edge and down the bank. Pausing a moment, it then felt backwards with its wings to make sure the pipit was really gone, and, having satisfied itself on this point, subsided to the bottom of the nest. Next day, when the nest was visited, the remaining pipit was found outside the nest cold and dead. " But what struck me most," she writes, "was this: the cuckoo was perfectly naked, without a vestige of a feather or even a hint of feathers, its eyes were not yet opened, and its neck seemed too weak to support the weight of its head. The pipits had well-developed quills on the wings and back, and had bright eyes partially opened, yet they seemed quite helpless less developed creature."under the manipulations of the cuckoo, which looked a much

The GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO of South Europe and North Africa is a species which, though Its eggsparasitic, does not seem to have sunk to such a depth as the common cuckoo. very closely resemble those of certain magpies and crows within its breeding-area, and it is in the nests of these that they are deposited. We may assume that mimicry has been resorted to, and become perfected by the same means as have accomplished this end in the case of the common cuckoo. We notice here, however, two points of difference therefrom. In the first place, from two to four eggs are left in each nest instead of one; and, secondly, the young cuckoos seem to live in perfect amity with their foster-brothers and -sisters there is no ejection of the rightful heirs. Having pledged themselves to a course of deception and treachery, there is no telling the lengths to which such have already conduct may lead. We seen that the bird has succeeded in laying what we may call forged eggs, but we come now to an instance where the young has also to be disguised. This is furnished by a species of cuckoo known as the KOEL, inhabiting Palawan, an island in the Philippines. This bird shifts its parental duties upon the shoulders of a species of myna inhabit-

, bu j. r. xtwman] (Berkhamitcd. ing the same island. Now, the mynas 'CUCKOO ONE DAY OLD IN HEDGE-SPARROW'S NEST. are black, and their, young, as is often

Tte young bird hns its mouth open, ready for all the food the foster-parents can j^e case where both S6X6S are Coloured collect.

Parrots, Cuckoos, and Plantahveaters 497

alike, resemble the parents, and are black likewise. With the cuckoo the case is different. The male and female are conspicuously different in coloration, the former being black, the latter brown. In such cases it is the rule for the young to wear the livery of the female. If this rule were adhered to in the case of the cuckoo, destruction would be more than probable, for the mynas would as likely as not destroy so outrageous a departure from myna custom as a brown youngster. But the koel has proved equal to the occasion, by the simple expedient of attiring the young in the male instead of the female livery. Later on in life the rule for the exchange of plumage is reversed, and the young female doffs the temporary black dress of the male for the brown one of the adult female, instead of vice versa. All cuckoos, however, are not parasitic, the species known as LARK-HEELED CUCKOOS from the presence of a long, spine-like claw on the hind toe building a nest and hatching their own eggs. They have a wide range, being found in Africa from Egypt to Cape Colony, Madagascar, India, China, New Guinea, and Australia. J. T. Newman] As a rule, the Cuckoos are not f/toto by YOUNG CUCKOO. conspicuously coloured, but some species A young cuckoo remains in the nest till fully fledged. are clad in a livery resplendent with metallic colours. These are represented by the Indian and Australian BRONZE CuCKOOS and the African GOLDEN CUCKOOS. One of the most beautiful of all is the African EMERALD CUCKOO, in which the upper-parts are of a vivid emerald-green, whilst the under-parts are bright yellow. Finally, we must mention the GROUND-CUCKOOS, which are comparatively long-legged, is an inhabitant of the Southernterrestrial forms, with small wings. One of the best known United States, from Texas to New Mexico, Southern Colorado, and California. " It has obtained the name of KOOD-RUNNER," writes Dr. Sharpe, "from the speed with which it flies over the ground, some " idea of which may be gained from a statement of Colonel Stevenson, that, when in Southern California, he saw, on two occasions, the ranchmen of that part of the country chase one of these birds on horseback for a distance of a mile or more at full speed, when the cuckoo, though still in advance, would suddenly stop and fly up among the upper limbs of some stunted tree or bush near the roadside, and the rider, having kept the bird in view all the way, would dismount and easily take the exhausted bird from its perch alive."

That the African PLANTAIN-EATERS, or TOURACOS, are related to the Cuckoos there can be no doubt, although they do not bear any very close superficial resemblance to them. Striking in appearance and of beautiful plumage, they owe as much of the interest which now centres on them to the chemist as to the ornithologist. Long ago it was noticed that the rich crimson colour of the wing-quills disappeared after exposure to a heavy rain, having been 63

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apparently washed out a supposition justified by the discovery still later that the water in which captive species had been bathing was little more strongly tinged with colour. A than thirty years ago these facts came under the notice of Professor Church, who, as a result of a thorough examination of the mystery, was enabled to announce the discovery of a new animal pigment containing copper, which he called "turacin." There are twenty-five different species of plantain-eaters, which are divided into two groups those which have red in the quills and those without. All are forest-dwellers, feeding upon various wild fruits, building a nest of sticks resembling that of a pigeon, and laying therein three white eggs. The majority of the species are crested and brilliantly coloured, but a few are quite is soberly clad. The largest of the tribe nearly 3 feet long, and a brief description of its coloration will serve to convey a notion of the beauty of the more gorgeously clad members. In this species, then, the upper surface of the body is blue, the tail yellow, with a blue base and black bar across the tip, the under surface of the body rufous brown, the bill yellow, with a scarlet tip, and the eye red. Though the tops of the highest trees seem to be their favourite resort, these birds are found also among the dense tangled masses of creepers near the ground, flitting, when f/ioto by J. T. Kemnan} [Jicfkkamsled.

YOUNG CUCKOO IN REED-WARBLER'S NEST. disturbed, in graceful curves, and alighting This photograph was taken in August, an unusually late date to find these with crest erected and the tail turned sharply birds in the nest. upwards. The powers of flight appear to vary among the different species, some being described as decidedly clumsy on the wing, whilst others, on the contrary, are light and graceful. Shy and very restless, they are very difficult to procure, when wounded running with great speed, and taking shelter in holes in trees. Their flesh is esteemed a great delicacy by the natives. Save during rain or the heat of midday, they appear to be very noisy birds, having a harsh note, varied with cat-like mewings.

CHAPTER XII.

ROLLERS, KINGFISHERS, HORNBILLS, AND HOOPOES.

birds of brilliant coloration, the ROLLERS have earned their name from the habit of occasionally rolling or turning over in their flight, after the manner ofCROW-LIKE tumbler-pigeons. One species at least visits Britain occasionally, only to be shot down at once by the insatiable pot-hunter and collector of rare birds. They are birds of wide distribution, occurring over the greater part of the Old World, and, as we have already remarked, of brilliant coloration, blue, and green, varied with reddish, being the predominating colours. As with all birds of beautiful plumage, they are subjected to much persecution,

t Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

AUSTRALIAN LAUGHING-KINGFISHER.

The Laughing-kingfisher, or Laughing-jackass, derives its name from its extraordinary note, resembling a demoniacal laugh. 499

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thousands upon thousands being killed every year in India alone, to supply the demands oi made by milliners for the decoration ladies' hats. Rollers frequent forest country, and : some travel in pairs or in small companies species are entirely insectivorous; others eat also reptiles, frogs, beetles, worms, and grain. Four or five white eggs are laid in a nest made of roots, grass, hair, and feathers, and built in walls, under the eaves of buildings, or in holes of trees or banks. Equally beautiful as a whole, and far more widely known, are the KINGFISHERS. But just as the common cuckoo has come to overshadow the rest of its tribe, so the COMMON KINGFISHER eclipses all its congeners. For centuries a wealth of fable, held together by a modicum of fact, served to secure for this bird a peculiar interest; whilst to-day, though shorn of much of the importance with which these fables had invested it, this kingfisher is still esteemed one of the most interesting and beautiful of its tribe. Green and blue are the predominating colours of its upper- and bright chestnut-red of its under-surface; but owing to structural peculiarities of the feathers of the upper-parts, the reflection of the green and

Photo by W. F. Piggott] [LeigUon Buzzard. blue areas changes with the direction of the KINGFISHERS AT HOME. light from which the bird is viewed, in the The plumage of this bird is remarkable for the beauty of its iridescent same way that the peacock's train-feathers hues. change according as the light falls upon them.