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

The Woodpecker Tribe constitutes a large group, generally divided into two sections the WOODPECKERS and the WRYNECKS.

The former are characterised by their large heads and very powerful bills and long and exceedingly stiff tails. The feet are also peculiar, two toes pointing directly forwards and two backwards. Beak, feet, and tail are all specially Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons. adapted to the peculiar habits of these birds, HONEY-GUIDE. which pass their lives upon trees, climbing the The name is bestowed on account of its remarkable habit of drawingtrunks, and searching the interstices of the bark attention to bees' nests.

for ants, or drilling holes into the unsound portions of the trunk itself for the purpose of extracting the grubs which feed upon decaying wood. That ants and other small insects form the staple diet of the woodpecker is evident from the extraordinary length of the tongue. This is a long, wormlike structure, capable of being protruded many inches from the beak, and covered with a sticky secretion, so that, thrust into colonies of ants, it quickly becomes covered with them, to be withdrawn immediately into the mouth and cleared again for further action. Woodpeckers are all birds of bright plumage, some particularly so, and have a wide geographical distribution, inhabiting all parts of the world save Madagascar, the Australasian region, and Egypt. Three species occur in the British Islands, though they are exceedingly rare in Scotland and Ireland. The GREEN WOODPECKER is a particularly is the handsome bird. Grass-green predominating colour of its livery, relieved by a light scarlet cap, a fkoto by A. S. Ruditind a;.so/is. golden patch over the lower part of

A FAMILY OP GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKERS. the back, and chequered bars on the This woodpecker is a British species. wings and quills.

of the World512 The Living Animals

Scarcely less beautiful, in their way, are the (THEATER and LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKERS. The plumage of these birds has a very rich effect, steely blue-black and white being contrasted with scarlet. The SPOTTED and BLACK WOODPECKERS are remarkable for a curious drumming sound, so powerful as to be distinctly audible even a mile off. It appears to be caused by hammering vigorously on the bark of some rotten branch, the bird's head moving with amazing rapidity as it beats out this curious tattoo. Three North American species, known as SAP-SUCKERS, have the curious habit of piercing the boles of trees for the purpose of procuring is the sap which flows copiously when the tree " so tapped." Another species of the same region seems to be possessed of a persistent dread of famine, storing up immense quantities of nuts, which it appears never afterwards to use. These nuts are tightly fixed into holes in the bark of trees, and in such numbers that "a large pine 40 or 50 feet high will present the appearance of being closely studded with brass nails, Photo by W. F. t'iggott] [Leighton Buzzard. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKERS the heads only being visible." One of the members of the group is using its stiff tail feathers as a The WRYNECKS differ from the Woodpeckers support. mainly in that the tail-feathers are soft instead of spiny. Although sombre, the plumage is yet very beautiful, having a velvety appearance, variegated with pearl-grey, powdered or dusted over a general groundwork of nut-brown, buff, and grey. Bars and fine lines add still more to the general effect, and render description is known also as the CUCKOO'Sstill more difficult. One species is common in England. It it arrivesMATE and the SNAKE-BIRD. The former name is given in allusion to the fact that with the cuckoo, the latter from its strange habit of writhing its head and neck, and also on account of its curious hissing note, made when disturbed on its nest. It has the long, wormlike tongue of the woodpecker, but without a barbed tip.

The habit of writhing the head and neck often serves the wryneck in good stead. Nesting in a hole in a tree, escape is difficult so soon as the discoverer has come to close quarters. The untried egg-collector, for instance, peering down into the nest, and seeing nothing distinctly, but only a moving head, and hearing a hissing sound, imagines the hole to be tenanted by a snake, and beats a hasty retreat, only to catch a glimpse, a moment later, of the bird hurrying out of its perilous hiding-place. Should he, however, discovering the true state of affairs, put down his hand and seize the bird, it will adopt yet other resources. Clanging tightly to its captor's finger, it will ruffle up its feathers, stretch out its neck, and at uhe same time move it jerkily and stiffly about, and finally, closing its eyes, hang downwards, as if dead. Then, before the puzzled captor has had time to realise what has happened, it loosens its hold and takes instant flight. The young are easily, though rarely, tamed, and form extremely interesting pets, feeding readily from the hand, and affording endless amusement by their remarkable manner of capturing flies and other insects; but they do not appear to live long in confinement.

The wryneck is one of the few birds which will persistently go on laying eggs, no matter ashow many times they may be stolen from the. nest. A case is on record where as many forty-two were laid in a single summer by one bird an exceedingly cruel experiment.

Photo by C. Reid, Wishaw. WAXBILLS. Waybills are relatives of the Weaver birds, and take their name from the waxen appearance of the beak. which is coral red.

Photo by C. Reid, Wishaw.

INDIGO FINCHES.

The Indigo Finch or Indigo Bird is a well known member of a group of American Finches, of which the Nonpareil Finch is another representative.

UNIV. OF

CALIFORNIA

é r Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt] (Washington.

AMERICAN CROW.

In some parts of the United States this crow, everywhere regarded as a pest, is replaced by the raven. 512 65

CHAPTER XV.

THE PERCHING-BIRDS.

V.r an enormous host are included under this head nearly 6,000 out of the total of SUCH13,000 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 denned mainly from the characters afforded by the structure of the voice-organ, and these are of much too technical a nature to be discussed

I'hotoby C. Reid} [Wiihaic, N.B. JACKDAWS. It is believed that the jackdaw is the bird referred to by Shakeepeare as the Russet-pated Chough (Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii. 2).

is further divided intohere. Suffice it to say that, on account of these characters, the group two " sections, and each section again divided' into two. v\

THE CROWS, ORIOLES, FINCHES, AND THEIR ALLIES.

At the head of the tribe standsj 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 its striking personality. The poet and the dramatistyoungest amongst us who do not know of have both made use of the raven, and it would seem that it has even found a place in the 514

The Perching'birds 515 mythology of the Red Indian. The smaller relatives of this celebrated bird, the BOOK, 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 Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt] {Washington. away the decayed portions of YOUNG AMERICAN BLUE JAY (NATURAL SIZE). the tree; but occasionally it The blue jay is a most remarkable mimic. happens that, having cleared as possible, the latter is unable to reach his prey, inaway as much of the decayed material 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. is the G-REAT BIRD OF Varying in size from a crow to a thrush, the best known of the latter 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 till they died, for they had neither feet nor wings. Hencesun, and never alighting on the earth 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,

The Living Animals of the World

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, full dress, the malesthe female being quite plainly dressed. In May, when they are in