PARROTS, PIGEONS, PEA-FOWL, PHEASANTS, ETC.
The members of the parrot family are very interesting birds; in the
first place because they are generally so gaily colored, in the second
place because they are so easily tamed, and in the third place because
many of them are such capital talkers. They nearly all spend the greater
part of their lives in the trees, and if you look at their feet you will
see that the first and fourth toes are turned backward while the second
and third are directed forward. This gives the birds a great power of
grasp, and helps them in climbing.
At least five hundred different kinds of these birds have been
discovered in different parts of the world, but we shall only be able to
tell you about a few of them. Let us take first a parrot, then a
parrakeet, then a cockatoo, then a macaw, and then a love-bird, as
representing the various groups.
THE GRAY PARROT
We take this parrot because it is the one which we see most often in
cages. It comes from Central Africa, and, like most parrots, is
generally seen in large flocks, which fly about together. During the
daytime these birds often travel long distances in search of food, which
consists chiefly of fruits and nuts, but in the evening they always
return to their regular roosting-places.
This parrot makes no nest at all, but just lays its eggs in a hole in
the trunk of a tree. Both birds sit in turns, and if danger threatens
they will defend their eggs or their little ones with the greatest
courage. And if they seem to be getting the worst of the fight, it is
said that the rest of the flock will come to their rescue, and will
nearly always succeed in driving the enemy away.
When they are kept as pets gray parrots nearly always learn to talk
well, and sometimes make such suitable remarks that it really almost
seems as if they must understand what they say. That they live to a very
great age appears certain from the fact that they have sometimes been
kept in captivity for seventy or eighty years.
PARRAKEETS
These birds are found in the hotter parts of Africa, Asia, and
Australia, being very plentiful, for instance, in the forests of India.
Perhaps the best known of them is the East Indian ring-necked parrakeet,
which is green in color, the male having a red ring round his neck, with
a black ring underneath it. The length of the bird is about seventeen
inches, of which almost exactly half is taken up by the tail.
These parrakeets are dreadfully mischievous birds, for they visit both
fields and gardens, and devour enormous quantities of grain and fruit.
You can easily understand how much harm four or five hundred of them can
do in a short time, and flocks of this size are often seen, while
sometimes they are even larger still. They have regular roosting-places,
to which they always return at night; and they lay their three or four
white eggs in holes in trees.
COCKATOOS
Cockatoos may easily be recognized by their feathery crests, which they
can raise and lower at will. We will take the sulphur-crested cockatoo
as our example.
This favorite cage-bird comes from Australia, where it is found in
enormous flocks. Fancy seeing a thousand cockatoos flying about
together! And fancy what it must be to listen to their screams! Yet a
flock of this size is not at all uncommon. The birds are not as
plentiful as they used to be, however, for they did so much mischief in
the grain-fields that the planters shot them in large numbers; often,
indeed, a field would be so full of cockatoos that from a little
distance it looked as though it were deeply covered with snow.
As talkers cockatoos are not nearly so clever as parrots, but they soon
learn to imitate all kinds of sounds, such as the barking of dogs, the
mewing of cats, the cackling of fowls, and the gobbling of turkeys.
Unfortunately, however, they are very fond of screaming, and make a
terrible outcry if they are annoyed in any way, so that they are apt to
be rather a nuisance if they are kept as pets.
MACAWS
The macaws are large and handsome birds, their plumage being nearly
always very brightly and even gaudily colored. In the red and blue
macaw, for instance, which is one of the best known, the general color
is bright vermilion red, with a patch of yellow feathers on the upper
part of each wing. Then the lower part of the back, together with the
quills of the wings and the outside feathers of the tail, is blue, while
the central tail-feathers are scarlet with blue tips. But even this is
not all, for underneath the wings and tail are golden red, varied by
patches of yellow feathers tipped with green. This magnificent bird is
nearly three feet long, two-thirds of that length being occupied by the
tail.
Macaws are found in large flocks in the great forests of tropical
America, where they may be seen sometimes flying high in air, and
sometimes sitting on the topmost branches of the tallest trees. Their
cries can be heard from a very long distance away.
Macaws are just as mischievous in the cornfields as parrots and
cockatoos are in other parts of the world, and are much more difficult
to kill; for some, before settling down to feed, post sentinels in the
tops of tall trees near by, and steadily watchful, they give the alarm
as soon as they see the slightest sign of danger.
Macaws lay their eggs in holes in tree-trunks, as parrots do, and are
said to enlarge the holes to suit their requirements by means of their
powerful beaks. They are not very wise birds, however, for when they are
sitting they often leave their long tails projecting out of the hole, to
be seen by every passer-by!
LOVE-BIRDS
Of all the birds which belong to the parrot family the love-birds are
the smallest, being little bigger than finches. Seven different kinds
are known, all found in Africa south of the Desert of Sahara.
These pretty little creatures are called love-birds because they seem so
very fond of one another. If two or three are kept in a cage together,
they always snuggle up as closely as possible, and will sit side by side
for hours, perfectly happy in each other's company. And often, if one of
a couple dies, the other will pine away in a short time and die too,
apparently from sorrow.
In a wild state love-birds are generally seen in small flocks which fly
very rapidly, and constantly utter their sharp screaming cry. They do
not seem to make any nests for themselves, but make use of those of
other birds instead. Whether they turn out the rightful owners, however,
or merely take possession of nests which have been deserted, nobody
seems to know.
PIGEONS
We shall only be able to tell you about two members of the great pigeon
family, the first of which shall be the wood-pigeon, or ring-dove, which
is interesting as the wild original that has given us our domestic
pigeons, so many varieties of which have been produced by fanciers.
This is a very common bird in almost all parts of the British Isles, and
one can scarcely walk through a wood without startling it from its
retreat in the thick foliage of some tall tree, or ramble through the
fields without seeing at least one flock on its way to its
feeding-grounds. Unfortunately, it does a good deal of mischief, for it
has a most enormous appetite, and carries off immense quantities of
grain from the cornfields. Just to give you some idea of the amount of
food that it will eat, we may mention that no less than eight hundred
grains of wheat have been taken from the crop of a single wood-pigeon,
six hundred peas from that of another, and one hundred and eighty
beechnuts from that of a third; while one naturalist tells us that the
bird will sometimes pack away enough turnip-tops to fill a pint measure
when they are well shaken up!
Our American turtle-dove, or mourning-dove, is much like this but nobody
minds the few bits of grain it picks up. On the other hand, the
wood-pigeon devours great quantities of the seeds of weeds; so although
it is mischievous in one way, it is useful in another.
The nest of the wood-pigeon, which is mostly placed in the upper
branches of a tall tree, is very clumsily made. Indeed, it is very
little more than a platform of sticks, which are often so loosely put
together, that as you look up from below you can see the eggs through
the gaps between them! There are never more than two eggs, which are
perfectly white.
THE PASSENGER-PIGEON
The passenger-pigeon, or wild pigeon of North America, is remarkable for
two reasons.
In the first place, it is (or rather, used to be) found in the most
astonishing numbers. Flocks of these birds _many miles in length_
have often been seen, while large tracts of forest were once so thronged
with their nests that all the smaller branches and many of the larger
ones were broken down. Fancy what that means when a nesting-place is
thirty miles long and several miles broad, while as many as a hundred
nests may be found in a single tree!
In the second place, the bird is renowned as a traveler. That is why it
is called the passenger-pigeon. All over the length and breadth of the
country a few years ago these vast flocks would fly, coming no man knows
whence, going no man knows whither, roosting just for one night in one
place, and passing on again early next morning. The flocks are not so
large as they were, however, for many millions of the birds have been
destroyed; and as these pigeons never lay more than two eggs, they do
not multiply very fast. In fact, this pigeon is already a rare bird.
PEACOCKS
What a magnificent bird the peacock is, with his great train raised and
spread, so as to show off all the beautiful eye-like markings! And
how _very_ proud of it he seems as he struts about to be admired,
as though knowing quite well that everybody is looking at him!
People sometimes speak of this train as the "tail." But it really
consists of those feathers which are called the tail-coverts, the true
tail lying underneath it, and serving to support it when it is spread.
Peacocks are natives of Asia, and are found most commonly, perhaps, in
India, where flocks of thirty or forty may often be seen, and one
traveler tells us that he once saw quite fifteen hundred of these
splendid birds all together! They are sometimes caught in a very curious
way. The hunter rides up quietly to within a short distance of them as
they are feeding on the ground, and then suddenly dashes at them at full
speed. Of course they at once rise into the air, and just as they are
passing out of reach he strikes at one of them with a very long whip,
which coils round its neck like a lasso. Then all that he has to do is
to pull it down to the ground.
In some parts of India, however, these birds are regarded by the natives
as sacred, and no one is allowed to kill them, or even to take them
alive.
[Illustration: AMERICAN GAME BIRDS
1. Wood-duck. 2. Pheasant. 3. Green-winged Teal.
4. Yellow-legs; Tattler. 5. Widgeon Duck. 6. Canvas-back.
7. Canada Grouse. 8. Blue-winged Teal. 9. Quail; Bobwhite.
10. Wood-cock. 11. Virginia Rail. 12. Common Snipe.]
TURKEYS
Everybody takes an interest in the turkey--more especially at
Thanksgiving and Christmas time!--and many people think that it comes
from the country of Turkey, but this is quite a mistake, for it is a
native of North America, in many parts of which it is still found in
great abundance. The domesticated turkey probably arose from the Mexican
variety rather than from the more familiar wild turkey of the Northern
States.
Some of the flocks seem to consist of cock birds only, and others of
hens and young, the reason being that the cocks are very fierce and
quarrelsome birds, and will attack and even kill the young ones if they
have an opportunity. Until long after her little ones are fledged,
indeed, the mother turkey has to take the greatest care of them; for not
only are they in constant danger from their unnatural father, but all
kinds of other enemies, such as foxes, lynxes, and horned owls,
have to be guarded against as well. So she keeps them nearly always
under cover, and when at last they are big enough to be taken for a
little ramble, she never brings them back to the nest by the path by
which they left it.
Turkeys often travel for very long distances. When they come to a broad
river they perch in the upper branches of the tallest trees they can
find, and then fly across together at a given signal. They are not very
strong on the wing, and usually some of them fall into the water. But by
spreading out their tails and paddling hard they generally manage to
make their way to shore.
PHEASANTS
The pheasant is a native of Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor; but it
has lived in Western Europe for so long that it is fully entitled to
rank among British birds. It has so many enemies, however, that if it
were not carefully preserved it would very soon disappear.
Pheasants nearly always live in woods, though they often venture out
into the open fields to search for food, which consists of acorns,
grain, beechnuts, seeds, and small insects. During the winter, however,
they have to be fed, or they would be very likely to die from
starvation.
These birds do not make a regular nest, the hen merely scratching a
slight hollow in the ground, and there laying her ten to fourteen
olive-brown eggs. When she is sitting it is difficult to see her, for
her light-brown mottled plumage looks just like the dead leaves among
which she is resting, and even the sharpest eye might often pass her by.
THE RED GROUSE
This bird is remarkable for two reasons. The first is, that it is found
only in the British Isles, and not in any other part of the world; and
the second is, that it varies so very greatly in color. Sometimes it is
almost entirely black, sometimes it is reddish chestnut, and
sometimes nearly all the feathers are broadly tipped with white.
The red grouse is found on moors and mountainsides wherever there is
plenty of heath or heather, and where it can obtain the whortleberries,
cranberries, and tender shoots of cotton-grass and sedge upon which it
feeds. And though it has many natural enemies, such as hawks and crows,
foxes and stoats, and while it is shot in thousands by sportsmen, it
never seems to decrease in abundance.
As a general rule the grouse does not fly much, but runs with great
swiftness among the heather. It makes a very rough nest of straws and
twigs in a hollow in the ground, and often sits so closely on its eggs
that it may almost be trodden on before it will move. When the little
ones are hatched they seem to know without being taught how to conceal
themselves in moments of danger, and if they cannot find cover will
flatten themselves against the ground, where they look so much like
stones that even the sharp eye of a hawk will pass them by.
[Illustration: FOUR GREAT GAME-BIRDS.
1. American Wild Turkey. 2. European Great Bustard.
3. European Blackcock. 4. South American Chaha.]
PARTRIDGES
Partridges, of which our quail is an example, are found almost
everywhere, being carefully protected in most countries for purposes of
sport; and they lay so many eggs that they are scarcely likely to become
less plentiful. Few nests contain less than ten eggs, while fifteen or
even more are frequently laid; and instances have been recorded in which
as many as thirty-three eggs have been found in a single nest, but in
these cases two birds have most likely laid together. The mother bird
sits very closely--so closely, indeed, that when she has nested in a
meadow and the grass is being mown, she often fails to move out of the
way of the scythe in time, and is found lying on the ground with her
head cut off after the reapers have passed by.
When the little ones are hatched, both parents go about with them, and
the covey, as it is called, keeps together all through the autumn and
winter.