The menura, or lyre bird, is remarkable for the beauty of its tail, which resembles in form the musical instrument called a lyre. It is a native of Australia.
The satin bower-bird is also found in Australia, where it builds itself extraordinary bower-like structures under the shelter of some overhanging tree. The base of the bower consists of a sort of platform of sticks thickly interwoven, on the centre of which the bower is built of sticks and twigs, the tips being arranged so as to curve inwards, and nearly meet at top. The most curious part, however, of this bower, is the manner in which the entrance to it is decorated with the most gaily-coloured articles that can be collected, such as the blue tail-feathers of parrots, bleached bones, the shells of snails, &c.; some of the feathers are stuck in among the twigs, while others, with the bones and shells, are strewed about near the entrances. The propensity of these birds to pick up and fly off with any attractive object, is so well known to the natives, that they always search their runs for any small missing article, as the bowl of a pipe, &c., that may have been accidentally dropped in the bush.
The sand martin is remarkable for the curious manner in which it builds its nest. It chooses the face of a sandstone rock, and in this it makes holes which are sometimes deep enough to take a man's arm up to the shoulder without reaching the bottom. This bird has a very ingenious manner of building its nest. Rennie says he has seen "one of these sand martins cling with its sharp claws to the face of a sand-bank, and peg in its bill as a miner would do his pick-axe, till it had loosened a considerable portion of the hard sand, and tumbled it down amongst the rubbish below. In these preliminary operations it never makes use of its claws for digging: indeed, it is impossible it could, for they are indispensable in maintaining its position, at least when it is beginning its hole." He also observes, that the holes of some of these swallows are as nearly circular as if they had been drawn with a pair of compasses. The bird begins in the centre, and works outwards, changing its position continually, and it is as often hanging from the roof, with its back downwards, as standing on the floor, which rather slopes upwards, and, of course, the lodgment of rain is thereby prevented." There is a whole colony of these swallows in the sand-banks near Woking, in Surrey; and there are others in various parts of Great Britain, from Devonshire to the north of Scotland.
The goat-sucker was formerly supposed to suck the milk from goats, and was dreaded and driven away as a robber by the farmers and cottagers who kept these animals; but Mr. Waterton, who is pre-eminently the champion of all ill-used and libelled animals, because he judges from what he sees, and not from what he reads, has ably vindicated the poor goat-sucker, and thus defends him from his enemies:—"When the moon shines bright, you will have a fair opportunity of examining the goat-sucker. You will see it close by the cows, goats, and sheep, jumping up every now and then under their bodies. See how the nocturnal flies are tormenting the herd, and with what dexterity he springs up and catches them, as fast as they alight on the body, legs, and udder, of the animals. Observe how quietly they stand, and how sensible they seem of his good offices; for they neither strike at him, nor hit him with their tails, nor tread on him, nor try to drive him away as an unwelcome intruder. Were you to dissect him and inspect his stomach, you would find no milk there. It is full of the flies which had been annoying the herd." The mouth of the goat-sucker is very curiously constructed: it is very wide, and fringed with long hairs, which act like the baleen of the whale, and do not suffer one of the insects which have entered the mouth to escape. The goat-sucker has a very curious claw on one of his feet, which is toothed like a comb. The use of this claw was long unknown, but it is now found that the bird employs it to comb out the hairy fringe of the beak, as otherwise it might become entangled, so as to prevent the bill from opening, or, at any rate, it would lose its efficacy.
The beautiful little humming-birds have been compared to feathered gems, so exquisitely rich and varied is their plumage; but Europeans, that have only seen their stuffed skins in a museum, can scarcely form any idea of their extreme beauty in a state of nature, when they dart about from flower to flower like bees rather than birds, "poising themselves in the air while they thrust their long extensile tongues into every flower in search of food." While they thus hang, they quiver their delicate fairy-like wings with the utmost rapidity, and it is said that "the humming noise which they produce proceeds entirely from the prodigious velocity with which they vibrate these tiny organs, by means of which they will remain in the air with their bodies almost motionless for hours together." Wilson says, that when a humming-bird suspends himself before a bunch of trumpet flowers in bloom, his wings become invisible, or like a mist, from the rapidity with which they quiver. Beautiful and delicate as these little creatures are, however, they are said to be often under the influence of evil passions, and one lovely little species, called the Mexican star, has been described as showing violent paroxysms of anger. On these occasions, "it will attack the eyes of the larger birds, striking at them with its sharp needle-like bill." Sometimes, particularly during the breeding season, the humming-birds quarrel with each other; and when this is the case, their mutual wrath becomes immeasurable; their throats swell; their crests, tails, and wings, expand; and they fight in the air till one or the other falls exhausted to the ground.
The king-fishers are remarkable for the beauty of their plumage, and the European king-fisher, which haunts the banks of lakes and rivers, looks almost as brilliant as the humming-birds of South America, when it darts on the small fish, on which it preys, "with the rapidity of an arrow, plunging its little gem-like body for one flashing moment in the crystal stream." The giant king-fisher of New Holland is called by the colonists the laughing or feathered donkey. Nothing can be more peculiar than the cry of this creature, which exactly resembles the peculiar gurgling laugh that a donkey might be expected to utter if one could conceive that animal indulging in a fit of merriment; and as one seldom laughs without being accompanied by another, who seems anxious to join in the duet, the effect is irresistibly ludicrous. This bird is respected by the Australian gardeners for destroying grubs and mice; and it has also been found to devour snakes, having first killed them by a violent blow on the back of their heads with its bill. One of these birds was seen sitting on the branch of a tree near a river, looking so stupid, and nodding its head in such a singular manner, that the spectators could not imagine what was the matter with it; but on being examined, "it was found that this peculiar manner proceeded from its having swallowed a small snake, which had got into the stomach, throat, and bill, but had not yet accommodated itself in the former's cavity."
CLIMBERS.
The birds belonging to this order have their feet so constructed as to give great power and tenacity of grasp to the feet, whatever may be the position of the body. "By this peculiar structure, many species are enabled not only to ascend a perpendicular trunk with perfect ease, but to suspend themselves from the lower surface of a branch while searching for their favourite food, which consists of either birds or insects, according to the shape of the bill."
PARROT, MACCAWS, AND COCKATOO.
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The birds belonging to the parrot tribe, whether parrots, lories, parroquets, maccaws, or cockatoos, have all thick, hard, solid bills, rather short, deeply curved, and generally sharp-pointed, which they use not only to take their food, but to assist them in climbing, suspending themselves indifferently by their feet or bill. The throats of these birds are furnished with three peculiar muscles, so as to make the larynx quite different to most others of the feathered tribe; and it is supposed to be owing to this peculiar construction that these birds are enabled to articulate words. The plumage of all the parrot tribe is extremely gorgeous, particularly that of the scarlet maccaw. "It is a grand sight in ornithology," says Mr. Waterton, "to see thousands of these birds flying over your head, and near enough to let you have a full view of their scarlet mantles." Lord Anson also gives a very striking description of the scarlet maccaws in a wild state, which he saw in the island of Coiba—"A fine river of transparent water there precipitates itself along a rocky channel, forming numerous falls, and the great disrupted rocks which form its boundary on either side are crowned with lofty forest trees. While the commodore, and those who were with him attentively viewing the place, were remarking the different blendings of the waters, the rocks, and the woods, there came in sight, as it were still more to heighten and animate the prospect, a prodigious flight of maccaws, which, hovering over this spot, and often whirling and playing on the wing about it, afforded a most brilliant appearance by the glittering of the sun upon their varied plumage."
All the parrot tribe are very long-lived, and they not only some of them articulate very distinctly, but they seem to take a kind of pleasure in the astonishment they frequently create by their imitation of the human voice.
The toucans are very curious birds on account of their enormous bills, which, in some instances, are almost equal in size to the body. At first sight, it seems difficult to conceive how this bird can manage its enormous bill so as either to fly or to take its food; but its bill is so exceedingly light, from being cellular within, that it does not appear to be of any inconvenience to the bird. The tongue is long, narrow, and barbed on each side like a feather, and when one that was tamed by Mr. Vigors was fed, it took the fruit that was given to it, and held it for some time in its beak, touching it two or three times with delight with its slender feathered tongue, and then tossing it into its throat by a sudden upward jerk. This bird is partly carnivorous, and when a goldfinch accidentally got into its cage, the toucan seized it, and pressed it so suddenly, that the poor little goldfinch only uttered one cry before it died. The toucan then hopped with it to another perch, and stripped off its feathers, after which it broke the bones, and when it had reduced its victim to a shapeless mass, it devoured it.
THE WADERS.
These birds are remarkable for the extraordinary length of their legs, which are also extremely slender; and this structure of their legs and feet is admirably adapted for their habits, as it admits of their wading to a considerable depth without wetting their feathers, and of their running with great rapidity along the sand. A variety of curious birds are included in this order, all of which are remarkable for the length and slenderness of their legs.