[Illustration: THE WIRIWA (_Colius Senegalensis_).]
The WIRIWA (_Colius Senegalensis_) and the WHITE-CHEEKED MOUSE BIRD
(_Colius leucotis_) are both inhabitants of Africa. In the first the brow
is grey, and adorned with a tuft of brownish-grey hair-like feathers; the
back of the head and sides of the neck are reddish yellow, the remaining
upper part of the body blueish grey, the throat light grey, the immediate
front of the throat and breast greyish blue, clouded with grey; the belly
is reddish brown, the beak red at its base and black at the tip; the feet
are bright red, as is a bare ring around the brown eye. The plumage of
the White-cheeked species is mouse grey; the lower portion of the body is
yellowish grey, the throat dark grey, the brow blackish grey, the cheeks
greyish yellow. The webs of the tail-feathers are broader than in those
of the Wiriwa. The eye is light blue, the upper mandible of a blueish
shade, the lower mandible reddish horn colour, and the feet bright red.
Both species are alike in size, being about thirteen or thirteen and a
half inches long, and from eleven to eleven and a half broad; the wing
measures three inches and three-quarters, and the tail about nine inches.
These remarkable birds are found exclusively in Central and Southern
Africa, though the northern parts of that continent seem equally rich
in their favourite trees. Some species appear to inhabit a very limited
tract, whilst the range of others extends from the western to the eastern
coast, and from sixteen degrees south latitude to the Cape of Good Hope:
all frequent well wooded districts, and are as numerous in the fertile
steppes as in the primitive forests. Le Vaillant was the first to give
any detailed account of the remarkable habits of this group, and so many
reliable naturalists have substantiated his statements that we cannot
hesitate to give them a place here, though our own observations have not
always furnished the same results.
The Mouse Birds, according to the writer we have just mentioned,
generally live in small families, numbering about six individuals,
and usually select a densely foliaged tree or thick mass of bushes as
their gathering place. Only those who have visited Africa, and thus
become acquainted with the remarkable characteristics of its luxuriant
vegetation, can realise the actual appearance of the haunts thus selected
as cities of refuge by these most strange and _mouse-like_ creatures.
Our readers must, therefore, try to picture to themselves a gigantic
tree, with dense and usually thorny foliage, so interwoven with and
embedded in the huge parasitical plants that grow around it as to be
nearly concealed from view. In this green mass, which is impenetrable to
man and beast, and even impervious to the attacks of the sportsman, the
Mouse Birds make their home, creeping, like the animals whose name they
bear, through such tiny and invisible crevices as to lead the spectator
to imagine that they have actually vanished from his sight, when suddenly
a little head appears, and the bird makes its exit through the hole by
which it entered. How they manage to creep in and out of such small
apertures seems quite inexplicable; Le Vaillant describes their motion
whilst accomplishing this curious performance as being extraordinarily
rapid. Their flight is performed with wings and tail outspread; whilst
in the air the whole party constantly utter their shrill cry, which is
accompanied by a very peculiar chirping sound; they but seldom rise to
any great height when on the wing, and still more rarely settle upon the
ground. Le Vaillant tells us that the Mouse Birds pass the night hanging
in clumps upon the branches, like bees upon a hive while swarming.
Perreaux, who verifies this statement, mentions having seen them clinging
to each other whilst asleep, the first bird holding on to the branch with
one foot, while it supports a second bird by entwining one of its legs
with its own free limb; this second bird, in like manner, supporting
a third, until they form a chain that often contains as many as six
or seven of these living links. We ourselves have never succeeded in
observing either of these curious habits, but have seen them during their
sleep not only with both feet upon the branch, but lying full length upon
it with the breast downwards. Whilst climbing among the foliage they will
often hang like Titmice from the under part of a twig, but never retain
this position for more than a very short time. The Colies are far from
shy, and are easily captured if it has once been possible to penetrate
their fastnesses--indeed, so little timidity do they exhibit that we have
seen them caught with the hand.
Their food appears to be limited to vegetable diet, for we have never
found insects in their crops, or, indeed, any substances except buds,
fruit, or corn. The fruit of the plant called "Christ's Thorn" affords
them their principal subsistence, but they will also devour grapes,
limes, and cactus figs, getting at them after the manner of the Titmouse,
by climbing over their surface. In Central Africa we heard no complaint
of the mischief done to the gardens by the Mouse Birds, but in the
Cape of Good Hope, owing to the large numbers in which they occur,
the inhabitants regard them as formidable enemies. Nets or similar
precautions are perfectly useless to prevent their incursions if they
have cast their eyes upon a tempting-looking tree, for, if there be an
aperture however small, their lithe, elastic bodies can penetrate it with
the utmost ease. The nests, which are described as being of a conical
shape, and formed of roots of various kinds, cotton-wool, grass, and
leaves, are placed close together upon the most inaccessible branches.
The brood consists of from six to seven eggs. Large numbers of the Mouse
Birds are shot in the Cape, not only on account of the mischief they do,
but for the sake of their juicy flesh.
CATCHERS (_Captantes_).
Under this head we class not only those members of the feathered race to
which has been assigned, _par excellence_, the name of BIRDS OF PREY,
but include with them such families of Swallows and song birds as obtain
the principal part of their food by the destruction of animal life.
We are fully aware of the difficulties presented by this attempt at a
simple and natural classification, which, like many similar efforts, must
necessarily be very imperfect, and open to grave objection; but we have
adopted it as rendering the general view of our subject more intelligible
to the tyro in Ornithology.
All the very various groups we have thus combined under the general name
of CATCHERS are endowed with powerful bodies and comparatively long
wings, and, moreover, are remarkable for the velocity and grace of their
movements through the air. Their beaks are short, hooked, and frequently
rendered more formidable by the possession of a tooth-like appendage to
the upper mandible, which fits into a corresponding cavity in the lower
portion of the beak; their gape is always large, and often of such great
extent as to appear out of proportion to the rest of the body; the crop
is but slightly developed or is entirely wanting, and the gizzard a
mere capacious bag, provided with strong muscular walls. In all other
characteristics presented by the members of this very heterogeneous order
so much dissimilarity is observable, that to avoid confusion we must
confine ourselves to describing each group in its appointed place.
The CATCHERS are met with in all parts of the world, but it is only in
the warmer climates that they are found in great numbers, or seem to
exhibit the full development of their matchless powers, which are alike
displayed amid the recesses of the forest or on the heights of mountain
ranges; even the inhabitants of the water are not secure against their
treacherous rapacity. Some groups carry on the work of destruction during
the day, some prefer the evening for their excursions, while others only
commence their murderous onslaughts when night has fully closed in, and
given them the protection of its sheltering darkness. All have but one
mate, and breed once or twice in the year. Their nests are often built
with great skill, and usually placed in holes of trees, in crevices
of walls and rocks, or, in some instances, upon the ground. The eggs
vary from one to eight in number, and the young are tended with great
affection by both parents.
* * * * *
BIRDS OF PREY (_Raptores_).
The numerous species included in this group present a remarkable
inequality of size, some vying with the largest members of the feathered
race in the majestic development of their powerful bodies, whilst others
are no bigger than a Lark; still, despite this difference, there is such
an unmistakable impress upon their forms and plumage as renders it easy
to distinguish a Bird of Prey at the first glance. All the members of
this rapacious series are endowed with a powerful and compact frame,
broad breasts, and strong limbs; the head is usually round, occasionally
elongated, the neck short and muscular, the trunk robust, and the legs
and wings exhibit such unmistakable strength in their formation as can
leave no doubt as to the attributes of the bird, even should it be seen
deprived of its feathers, beak, and claws. The beak is short, decidedly
curved, hooked at its extremity, and covered with a cere at the base of
the upper mandible; the latter is immovable, and somewhat compressed
at its sides. The margins of the beak are not only very sharp, but
are frequently rendered more terrible by the presence of a tooth-like
projection from the upper mandible, which fits into a corresponding
excavation in the lower jaw. In such species as are without this
tooth-shaped appendage the margins of the upper mandible are waved and
trenchant, distinctly indicating their carnivorous propensities. The feet
are massive and strong, the toes long in proportion to the size of the
tarsi, and very motile; both legs and feet are covered with scale-like
plates, and the toes furnished with claws or talons, which are either
curved and sharp or comparatively straight, but in both cases rounded
above and channelled beneath in such a manner that the lower part of
each claw presents two distinct sharp margins. The plumage is generally
soft, and formed of large feathers, which are either thick, small, and
firm, or broad, soft, and silky, or even woolly in their texture. The
bridles, a place between the base of the beak and the eye, and the eye
itself are frequently entirely naked, whilst, on the contrary, some
members of this group are distinguished by a circle of radiating feathers
surrounding the orbit. The quills that form the wings and tail are
always of considerable size, and their number in most species is pretty
nearly the same--that is to say, ten primaries, and at least twelve or
at most sixteen secondaries, form the wings; the tail is composed almost
invariably of twelve quills, which appear placed, as it were, in pairs.
In some races the feathers cover not only the tarsi, but even the toes,
where they are distinguished by the name of _hose_, a term that will
be frequently employed in our descriptions of the birds with which we
are about to deal. The plumage of the _Raptores_ is usually dingy and
sombre in its hues, though some few species exhibit considerable beauty
of appearance, and the bare places on the head, the comb, wattles,
bridles, cere, beak, feet, and eyes are occasionally brightly coloured.
The internal construction of these birds is on a par with their external
configuration; the skeleton is strong, and the sternum so large as
to extend over the whole of the fore part of the breast; the keel is
high, the bones of the wings comparatively long, and those of the legs
powerfully developed. The bones of the entire skeleton are for the most
part without marrow, and thus admit of the entrance of air, received
from the large lungs and air-cells which extend throughout the body. The
gullet is very dilatable, and is usually enlarged into a crop.
As we have said in our introductory chapter, the sight of the Raptores
is very acute, and their eye adapts itself with remarkable facility to
varying distances; and if any of our readers have tried the experiment of
holding their hands alternately close to and at some distance from the
eye of a Falcon, they have no doubt been astonished at witnessing the
extraordinary dilations and contractions of which the pupil is capable.
In some species the sense of hearing is also good, and we shall shortly
have fully to describe the high degree of excellence observable in the
structure of the ear of an Owl; their sense of smell, on the contrary, is
by no means keen, and that of touch scarcely more acute or reliable. All
Birds of Prey are remarkable for great courage, and exhibit such cruelty,
rapacity, and cunning as cannot fail to render them terrible foes to all
creatures weaker than themselves. In their relations to each other, on
the contrary, the different species exhibit great affection; they combine
readily in the defence of their companions, and do battle for them with
the utmost devotion. To what perfection the intelligence of the Birds
of Prey has been brought will be seen in our description of some of the
services rendered to our forefathers by the Falcons. As regards their
voices, few species are capable of uttering more than two or three harsh
and unpleasing notes.
[Illustration: _Plate 9 Cassell's Book of Birds_