Circumstantial accounts of eye-witnesses so clearly shew that bees' nests

are found through the instrumentality of these birds, that their intention

can hardly be doubted, and it has been said that not only man but the ratel

(_Mellivora capensis_) is conducted; the object of attraction, however,

occasionally turns out to be a leopard, cat, snake, or dog. Honey-guides

call attention by a shrill cry or hiss, and will even fly in the face of a

traveller, as if enraged at not being followed; they eat bees, grubs, and

honey, and are asserted to lay white eggs in the nests of Barbets and the

like.[255] Sir John Kirk writes[256] of the habits of _Indicator

minor_–"The Honey-guide is found in forests, and often far from water, even

during the dry season. On observing a man it comes fluttering from branch

to branch in the neighbouring trees, calling attention. If this be

responded to, as the natives do by whistling and starting to their feet,

the bird will {453}go in a certain direction and remain at a little

distance, hopping from one tree to another. On being followed it goes

further; and so it will guide the way to a nest of bees. When this is

reached, it flies about, but no longer guides; and then some knowledge is

needed to discover the nest, even when pointed out to within a few trees. I

have known this bird, if the man after taking up the direction for a little

then turns away, come back and offer to point out another nest in a

different part. But if it do not know of two nests, it will remain behind.

The difficulty is, that it will point to tame bees in a bark-hive as

readily as to those in the forest. This is natural, as the bee is the same;

the bark-hive, 'Musinga' as it is named, being simply fastened up in a tree

and left for the bees to come to. The object the bird has in view is

clearly the young bees. It will guide to nests having no honey, and seems

equally delighted if the comb containing the grubs be torn out when it is

seen pecking at it."

Fam. XVII. RHAMPHASTIDAE.–The Toucans[257] are easily recognisable by their

huge beak, only paralleled by that of the Hornbills, of which some authors

have considered them the Neotropical representatives; but whereas in the

latter this beak is usually surmounted by a casque of varying size, in the

Toucans it is shaped much as usual, though abnormally developed. It does

not seem to interfere with the bird's powers of flight or feeding, and

indeed the structure of both mandibles is admirably calculated to combine

bulk with strength and lightness; the external walls being so thin and

elastic that they are said in some species to be compressible by the

fingers, while the inner cavities are filled with a network of bony

columns, to which the air has constant access. Moreover, the maxilla is so

perfectly hinged to the skull that the utmost ease in mastication is

secured, the serrated edges further aiding in the process. In

_Aulacorhamphus_ the mandibles are grooved, and _Andigena laminirostris_

has a square basal plate on each side of the culmen. The metatarsi are

stout and scutellated on both aspects, the toes are papillose below, the

claws sharp and curved. The somewhat weak wings have ten primaries and

twelve secondaries; the square, rounded, or graduated tail of ten rectrices

is capable of free vertical motion, and is frequently jerked up over the

back. The furcula is U-shaped; the tongue is long, thin and narrow, with

feather-like margins towards the tip; the nostrils {454}open backwards

behind the bill-sheath in _Rhamphastus_, upwards or sideways near the hind

part of the culmen in the other genera; the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial;

the aftershaft is rudimentary or absent; and neither adults nor nestlings

shew any down.

The coloration of the long, loose plumage, and of the beak and naked

orbits, is most brilliant and varied; the females are smaller and duller

than the males, and quite unlike them in _Selenidera_; while the young

resemble the former, but have softer and differently-tinted bills. The feet

are grey or green. _Pteroglossus beauharnaisi_ has the black shafts of the

crown-feathers dilated and coalescent with the barbs, producing an

appearance like curls of horn.

Toucans, except just after moulting, are shy and restless; they are more or

less gregarious, and small flocks gather to feed or bathe in the morning or

evening; at noon they sit motionless on some lofty tree, but at other times

may be seen jumping about the branches. At night they roost with the tail

thrown forward upon the back, and the head turned to meet it. Their flight

is easy, graceful, and direct, accompanied by occasional noisy flaps of the

wing, the bill being carried horizontally; they rarely seek the ground,

where they hop about obliquely in awkward fashion. All the species live

chiefly on fruits, including seeds; but Azara's statement that they destroy

small birds, and devour both eggs and young, is possibly quite correct, as

in captivity they exhibit great excitement and delight when furnished with

meat, mice, reptiles, and so forth,[258] tearing the food to pieces and

masticating it with their serrated mandibles. Should, however, the object

be small, they throw back the head and swallow it at a gulp; while a

curious habit has been observed of regurgitating the substances for further

mastication. Caterpillars, ants, and the like are added to the diet in the

breeding season. When feeding in company, Toucans, like Rooks, post a

sentinel, whose harsh, chattering scream can be heard for at least a mile:

they are especially noisy in the morning and evening, or in wet weather.

The unmelodious cry seems to vary considerably in the different species;

being described as a croak, a hoarse note, a clear yelp, or a jarring sound

like that of a Mistletoe Thrush. Owls and diurnal Birds of prey are often

surrounded by a noisy mob of Toucans, which jerk their tails as they

follow. Two oval and somewhat glossy white eggs are deposited in hollow

limbs of tall trees. These birds are frequently eaten by {455}the colonists

and natives, the latter using their plumage to decorate their bows or their

persons, while the beaks make convenient powder-flasks. They are easily

tamed, and become amusing pets. The various forms extend throughout the

forests of Tropical America down to the mangrove swamps of the coast, some

occurring at an altitude of from six thousand to ten thousand feet on the

mountains; northwards _Rhamphastus carinatus_, _Pteroglossus torquatus_,

_Aulacorhamphus prasinus_, and _A. wagleri_ reach South Mexico; southwards,

_Rhamphastus toco_ ranges to Argentina; but westwards no species crosses

the Andes south of the Gulf of Guayaquil. They are not represented in the

Antilles, though _Rhamphastus vitellinus_ extends to Trinidad. Dr.

Sclater[259] recognises five genera, comprising fifty-nine species, the

majority inhabiting Amazonia and Guiana.

[Illustration: FIG. 94.–Ariel Toucan. _Rhamphastus ariel._ × ⅓.]

The genus _Rhamphastus_ contains fourteen members, with {456}nearly the

same range as that of the Family, including the type and sole Argentine

species _R. toco_, one of the largest forms, two feet in length. This is

black, with white rump, throat and fore-neck (the last bordered with red),

crimson vent, blue orbits, and orange bill terminally blotched with black,

which has been likened to a lobster's claw. Several species have the throat

and rump yellow or orange, or the latter scarlet, as in _R. ariel_. The

brilliant bill and orbits vary considerably in colour; the tail is square.

_Andigena_ comprises some five forms from the highest forests of Colombia,

Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, olive-brown or dark green above, and with

hair-like bluish-grey plumage below; the crown is black, the nape black or

grey, the vent scarlet, the rump yellow, and the tip of the graduated tail

chestnut, except in one instance. The bill shews black, yellow, or red, in

varied combination, _A. laminirostris_ having a square ivory-white basal

plate on each side of the maxilla. _A. bailloni_, of South-East Brazil,

doubtfully placed in this genus, has a scarlet rump, yellow under parts,

greenish and reddish bill, and red orbits. _Pteroglossus_, the most

brilliant genus in the Family, exhibits green, scarlet, and yellow hues,

with areas or bands of black and scarlet on the lower surface in thirteen

out of eighteen species. The tail is graduated, and the feathers below are

somewhat hair-like. These Araçarís, as they are called, range from South

Mexico to Bolivia and South Brazil. The lovely _P. beauharnaisi_, of Upper

Amazonia, has dark green upper parts, with crimson on the rump and mantle;

and light yellow lower parts, tinged with red, which shew a scarlet ventral

band and black spots on the throat; the maxilla is black with orange

culmen, the mandible white. _P. aracari_ of Guiana and Lower Amazonia has

no red on the mantle, the smooth head and throat are black, the maxilla is

white with black culmen, the mandible black. Some six species of

_Selenidera_, remarkable for the dissimilar sexes, and generally for the

transversely striped or blotched beak, range from South-East Brazil and

Upper Amazonia to Nicaragua. The males, except in _S. spectabilis_, have a

distinct nuchal crescent of yellow, less marked in the females; the former

have the head and breast black, the latter usually chestnut; but the hen of

the above species has the under surface black, that of _S. piperivora_

greyish-green. The general colour is dark green, with brown tip to the

tail, yellow or orange ear-coverts, and scarlet vent; the beak is whitish,

reddish, or greenish, with black markings. {457}_Aulacorhamphus_ has some

dozen fairly uniform green members, relieved by a white, bluish, or black

throat. The rump may be crimson or rufous, the rectrices tipped with

chestnut, and the bill a mixture of red, black, yellow, or horn-colour,

usually with a white line at the base. The range is from Mexico to Guiana

and Bolivia.

Fam. XVIII. PICIDAE.–The Woodpeckers form a very large Family of scansorial

birds with zygodactylous feet, which is so natural that Huxley raised it to

higher rank as _Celeomorphae_, while Parker separated it still further as

_Saurognathae_. The two Sub-families are (1) _Picinae_, or Woodpeckers, and

(2) _Iynginae_, or Wrynecks.

Sub-fam. 1. _Picinae._–The chief external peculiarities of this section lie

in the form of the large head, the neck, and the tail-feathers. The neck is

often much compressed, with exceedingly powerful muscles, which, coupled

with the strong, wedge-shaped bill, enable the bird to operate with ease

and celerity upon the boles and limbs of trees, whence it procures much of

its food, and where it excavates a deep hole for the reception of its eggs.

The shafts of the twelve tail-feathers, of which the outer pair are very

small, are in the majority of cases stiff and spiny, and therefore well

adapted to keep the body close to the bark while climbing; parallel cases

being those of the Tree-Creeper (_Certhia_) and the Dendrocolaptinae. The

shape of the tail is rounded or cuneate; the wings are moderate and not

very much pointed, with ten primaries and from ten to thirteen secondaries.

The metatarsus is short, with a single row of anterior scutes; the claws

are large, sharp, and curved.[260]

The tongue is excessively long and "worm-like," with horny, barbed tip, and

is capable of marvellous protrusion owing to the elongated "horns" of the

hyoid apparatus, which in some forms curve round the skull and have their

origin near the base of the bill. Facility is thus secured for searching

narrow cracks or deep hollows for insects, while the secretion from the

large salivary glands secures the adhesion of the objects aimed at. The

furcula is U-shaped, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial, the after-shaft

rudimentary, while neither adults nor young have down at any stage.

The prevailing colours are green, yellow, black, and white, in various

combinations, with spots and bars; brilliant scarlet being commonly present

on the crown and frequently also on the back {458}or under parts. From the

males the females and young in first plumage may be distinguished by their

duller coloration; but in the intermediate stages of growth the latter

exhibit a considerable amount of red. Many species have fine crests.

According to Hargitt[261] the number of genera is fifty, including three

hundred and eighty-five fairly defined species; though both genera and

species depend chiefly on colour. He mentions _Colaptes_ as an instance of

the possible formation of races by hybridization or climatic influences,

and _Gecinus_ as an example of diversely coloured forms, perhaps

originating from a common ancestor. The well-known colour-phases of

_Dendrocopus major_ and of the genus _Iyngipicus_ may be mentioned in this

connexion; the species becoming larger and whiter as they range eastwards

through Central Asia to Japan, and the former also shewing a tendency to a

crimson tint on the breast as it nears Africa southwards.

Woodpeckers are, with a few exceptions, solitary woodland birds of a

particularly shy and retiring nature, and therefore somewhat difficult of

observation. When seeking food they usually ascend a tree in spiral fashion

assisted by their tail and claws, and carefully examine every chink or

cranny in the bark; on reaching the higher limbs they betake themselves at

once to fresh hunting-grounds, often alighting at the very base of a trunk,

but equally often flying straight to some promising half-decayed branch. In

some cases, however, high flights are essayed. The species of _Colaptes_

and _Geocolaptes_ feed upon the ground; many forms, such as _Picus

martius_, _Gecinus viridis_, and _Melanerpes formicivorus_, prey largely

upon ants and take great pains to make a thorough clearance of the nest;

the last-named stores up acorns; while _Sphyrapicus varius_ and its

congeners suck the sap of trees and also hawk for flies: others again

devour a large quantity of fruits, seeds, and perhaps even Indian corn.

Omitting, however, the sap-sucking propensities of the American species,

the harm done is outweighed by the good.

In spring the laughing, ringing, or other cries may be heard in most wooded

districts; the sounds being somewhat harsh, and consisting of more or less

continuous notes according to the species, while the duration is commonly

about thirty seconds. The curious "drumming" noise produced in particular

by the Spotted and Black Woodpeckers is also chiefly heard early in the

year, though it ceases not with the courting, but when the young {459}are

hatched. This sound, which can be heard for a mile, is caused by the bill

hammering on the bark–usually of some rotten branch, while the bird's head

moves backwards and forwards with extraordinary rapidity; a stationary

position, however, is not invariably preserved, nor the quest of food

interrupted. The hen sometimes hisses loudly if disturbed upon her eggs;

both parents are said to "purr" in certain American species when the hole

is interfered with, and they certainly utter continuous, sharp alarm-notes

in Britain. It is probable, but perhaps hardly certain, that the female

drums as well as the male. The sense of hearing is extremely acute in the

Family. The flight is strong and undulating with constant "dips," and when

once witnessed can be recognised at considerable distances. Both sexes help

to excavate the hole for their eggs, which is a neat circular aperture,

worked from the centre outwards, and carried inwards to the core of the

wood, to descend thence for at least a foot; as soon as it turns downwards

it gradually enlarges, until the whole presents the form of a long-necked

bottle. Abortive borings are often made, of considerable depth; while the

chips may be found lying at the foot of the tree in a heap, if not removed

by the birds, as occasionally happens. Firs, oaks, poplars, beeches, ashes,

and willows, both high and low, furnish many breeding places, but wooden

walls or towers are also utilized, and two species, mentioned below, bore

like Kingfishers in banks. The same hole is occasionally tenanted in

successive years, but natural cavities are rarely used. It is commonly

stated that Woodpeckers always choose for their excavations decayed or

decaying limbs; but the soundest branches, or even the thickest parts of

the trunks of huge oaks, are not unfrequently selected. The oval, glossy,

white eggs are deposited on a few chips, and usually number from three or

five to ten; nevertheless as many as seventy-three are recorded as the

produce of one Woodpecker, and forty-two in the case of the Wryneck, when

robbed on successive days.[262] Both sexes are known to incubate in certain

cases: they sit very closely towards the end of the period, which lasts

fourteen days or more, yet often leave their hole quite readily at first.

Many species have been tamed, but they are wild and destructive in

captivity.

The Family ranges over the greater portion of the globe, except the

Australian Region, Madagascar, and Egypt. Its members are {460}most

abundant in the Indian and Neotropical Regions, several forms occurring in

the Antilles.

_Geocolaptes olivaceus_, an olive-coloured bird with whitish marks on the

wings and tail, crimson rump, and crimson-washed abdomen, is common in the

Cape Colony and Natal, and is remarkable for nesting in holes in banks or

mud-huts: it feeds upon the ground, and family-parties are stated by Mr.

Layard to keep together until the following breeding-season. Similar habits

have been observed in _Colaptes agricola_ of the Argentine Republic and

Patagonia, in timberless districts; but, as the trees grow, it recurs to

its natural habits. _C. auratus_, the golden-winged Flicker of North

America, has a phase (_C. mexicanus_) found west of the Rocky Mountains and

in Mexico, with red coloration of the wings in place of yellow,

intermediate races occurring in the intervening regions; considerable

controversy has consequently arisen as to whether hybridization has taken

place, or whether this is a case of specialized forms of a generalized

ancestor, due to climatic or other causes. The colour above is dove-brown

with black streaks; the head being lead-coloured with a crimson band on the

nape, the rump white, the lower throat black, the under parts pinkish-brown

with round black spots, and the wings strongly washed with yellow on both

surfaces. The bill is more arched and less wedge-shaped than usual. The

food consists of fruit, wood-lice, ants, and so forth, much of which is

procured upon the earth.

_Gecinus viridis_, our well-known Green Woodpecker, Yaffle, or Rain-bird,

the "laugh" of which is supposed to predict wet weather, is a green bird

with yellow rump and red head; the habits being those common to the whole

group, though a certain preference is shewn for feeding on the ground or on

ant-hills. It ranges throughout Europe to Asia Minor and Persia, while

other nearly allied forms, differing in their black occiputs or scarlet

rumps, extend over nearly the whole Eastern Palaearctic and Indian Regions.

_Chloronerpes_ is a Central and South American genus of smaller birds,

among which _C. rubiginosus_ has golden-rufous upper parts, with a red

nape, and yellowish under surface crossed by dark bars. Akin to this is the

Ethiopian _Campethera_, _C. punctata_ being yellow, olive, and brown above,

with a crimson head, and yellow below with small black spots.

_Chrysophlegma_ extends from the Himalayas to China and the Malay Islands.

_C. flavinucha_ is about the size of the Green Woodpecker, but {461}is much

yellower, and has a splendid orange crest on the nape, a yellow throat and

a grey breast; _C. miniatum_ has the crest and upper parts washed with red.

The three-toed _Gauropicoïdes rafflesi_ of the Malay countries has a long

black crest, and narrow, pointed tail-feathers, which contrast well with

its golden back; the under parts are brownish. _Asyndesmus torquatus_ of

the Western United States has very peculiar hair-like plumage below, in

which the first subdivisions of the whitish webs are not again divided; the

upper surface is bronzy-green, the front of the head crimson, and the

collar white. _Melanerpes_ is a large genus with many brilliant forms,

which range throughout America; _M. flavifrons_ being black above, with

white rump, crimson head and breast, broad golden forehead and throat, and

brownish chest; _M. candidus_ having the head and breast pure white, and

the blackish back only relieved by a yellow band on the nape; whereas _M.

formicivorus_ is intermediate in coloration. The last-named, often called

the Californian Woodpecker, extends southwards to Mexico and northwards up

the Pacific Coast to British Columbia; it stores up acorns by inserting

their upper halves in holes bored in the limbs of trees, which may be

sometimes seen studded with them to a height of forty feet or more.[263]

Apparently this is done for the sake of the grubs in the acorns; while, as

its name implies, the bird also devours ants.

_Sphyropicus_ contains the three Sap-suckers, which together range

throughout North America, an individual having strayed to Greenland. _S.

varius_ shews a striking combination of colours in its black and white

back, crimson head and throat, black chest, and yellow breast, while it has

the curious habit, shared by its congeners, of puncturing trunks of trees

to obtain the sap, in which they delight. Sometimes the entire bole is

encircled by these borings.

Nearly all that has already been said of the Family in general,

particularly with regard to the "drumming," may be repeated of the Spotted

Woodpeckers, of which _Dendrocopus major_ and _D. minor_ are the British

representatives. The colours in this genus are black and white in varied

proportions, with crimson on the head and often on the lower parts; a small

amount of buff and brown being not uncommonly added, while in _D.

brunneifrons_, a {462}Himalayan form, there is an admixture of yellow with

the red on the crown. Our Greater and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers extend

throughout Europe and North Asia, and reach the Atlantic Islands; while

some thirty congeners widen the range until it includes nearly all the

Palaeartic, Nearctic, and Indian Regions. They are also found south of lat.

20° S. in the Neotropical. _D. leuconotus_ and _D._ (_Dendrocoptes_)

_medius_ are other European forms, with varying races. _Picoïdes_ is a

similarly coloured genus of three-toed birds, with yellow instead of red on

the head. They inhabit the most northern forests of both Worlds, reaching

southward to Central Europe, China, and (west of the Rocky Mountains) to

New Mexico. _P. tridactylus_ is well-known in Europe.

[Illustration: FIG. 95.–Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. _Dendrocopus minor._ ×

½. (From _Bird Life in Sweden_.)]

_Iyngipicus_ is a large group of small species, which stretch from India to

the Kuril Islands, Chira, Flores, and Celebes; and, if Hargitt is right in

considering _Picus obsoletus_ congeneric, from North-East Africa to

Senegambia. The colours are black or olive above, relieved by white and

fulvescent below with dark stripes or spots, the occiput shewing a band, or

two streaks, of red; the lateral tail-feathers, moreover, are hardly rigid,

approaching in that respect those of _Picumnus_. _Dendrobates_ is a still

larger genus of similarly sized birds, varying from nearly uniform olive

with a red crown, or bright red with white under parts, to dull

gold-colour, where the lower surface is buff barred with brown; the head

being in the last case red, but the nape yellow. They range from Northern

Argentina to Central America. _Mesopicus goertan_, one of half a dozen

finely-coloured species found throughout most of the Ethiopian Region, has

an olive back, long crimson feathers on the head and rump, and a greyish

breast.

Thus far all the members of the Family agree in having the nostrils covered

with bristles. Among those in which the bristles are wanting may be

mentioned _Celeus_ and the three-toed _Tiga javanensis_ and its congeners,

extending from India to Cochin China. The last-named has a brilliant

golden-orange back, a crimson {463}head, crest and rump, black tail, neck

and wings, and dark brown under parts with white spots. _Celeus_ ranges

from Mexico to South Brazil, _C. flavus_ being canary-yellow with brown

tail and wings, a large crest of the former colour, and a crimson stripe at

the gape. This genus, and the five following, are characterized by having

the neck extremely narrow and compressed.

[Illustration: FIG. 96.–Great Black Woodpecker. _Picus martius._ × ⅕. (From

_Bird Life in Sweden_.)]

_Campephilus_, ranging from the Gulf States and the Lower Mississippi to

Argentina, and _Ipocrantor_, of Chili and Patagonia, are noticeable for the

concave ends of their tail-feathers. _C. principalis_, the Ivory-billed

Woodpecker of the Southern United States–almost the largest member of the

Family–frequents the highest timber, where, according to Wilson, it used to

strip off cart-loads of bark, and make huge quantities of chips. It

appears, however, that it only attacked trees infested by insect-larvae.

When it was common the Indians used the head as a charm, and considered

that it gave them the creature's courage. Its main colour is bluish-black

with white wing-markings; the crimson and black occipital feathers together

forming a long crest. Both this bird and the Pileated Woodpecker of North

America (_Dryotomus pileatus_) are locally known as "Log-cocks," with which

name may be compared that of "Stock-eagle," _i.e._ "Stump-eagle," given in

the West of England to the Greater Spotted Woodpecker. {464}_Ipocrantor

magellanicus_, of Chili and Patagonia, has an even longer crest.

_Hemicercus_ is a genus of curious little crested black and white species,

with very short and hardly rigid tails, occurring in India, the Malay

countries, and Cochin China. _Hemilophus pulverulentus_, a larger bird of

similar range, is remarkable for its enormous bill and curious

dusty-looking slaty plumage.

Under the head of _Picus_, which gives the Family its name, is placed by

Hargitt only _P. martius_, the Black Woodpecker, an inhabitant of the

pine-forests of Europe and Asia to Japan, quite erroneously asserted to

have occurred in England. The colour is black with the exception of a red

head, while the feathering extends down two-thirds of the metatarsus in

front. It feeds chiefly on ants, insects, and their larvae, utters a loud

rattling cry, drums on trees, and lays four or five eggs in holes bored in

rotten wood.

The Piculets are considered by most writers to form a Sub-family

_Picumninae_, and connect the _Picinae_ and the _Iynginae_, being the least

specialized of the former; they constitute the genus _Picumnus_, of which

the thirty or more members have short, rounded tails without spiny shafts,

and nostrils hidden by bristles. These diminutive birds occupy America from

Honduras to Northern Argentina, as well as most of the Indian Region, one

being a native of Africa; they are duller than most Woodpeckers, and are

rufous, olive, or greyish, while often marked with black, or with red or

yellow on the head. _P. micromegas_ is confined to Hispaniola, _P._

(_Verreauxia_) _africanus_ to the Gaboon districts, _P._ (_Sasia_)

_ochraceus_ and its two congeners are found in Northern India and the Malay

countries. Of these only the first has any bright colour on the head.

_Sasia_ lacks the hallux.

Sub-fam. 2. _Iynginae._–The Wrynecks may be distinguished from the typical

Woodpeckers by their soft tails without spiny shafts, and naked nostrils

with a partial covering. The plumage shews a peculiar mixture of black,

brown, grey, and white, somewhat similar to that of a Nightjar. They feed

chiefly upon the ground on ants and the like, and do not seek for insects

under the bark of trees to the same extent that Woodpeckers do; while,

instead of cutting out their own nesting-hole, they utilize cavities in

stumps, posts, or even banks, to contain the white eggs, from five to ten

in number, and often choose the same site annually. These birds have a

curious habit of erecting the head-feathers and twisting the head itself

from side to side, or almost over the back, either when sitting quietly on

a branch or when molested. They {465}utter a loud, triple note, frequently

reiterated, which has been compared to that of the Kestrel, and somewhat

resembles the spring cry of the Nuthatch. Owing to the non-spinous tail the

members of this genus cannot climb so well as Woodpeckers, while on the

ground they are awkward and move with constant hops. The extensile and

worm-like tongue is not barbed at the tip. _Iynx torquilla_, the

Cuckoo's-mate or Snake-bird, is fairly common in England, and extends

thence to Japan, Kordofan, and Senegal. The remaining species are all

Ethiopian, _I. pectoralis_ with a reddish-brown fore-neck and chest

inhabiting the southern half of Africa, the similar _I. pulchricollis_

occurring in East Equatorial Africa, and _I. aequatorialis_, in which the

red extends to the whole breast, being met with only in Abyssinia.

[Illustration: FIG. 97.–Wryneck. _Iynx torquilla._ × 3/7. (From _Natural

History of Selborne_.)]

Of fossil forms referred to this Family, _Uintornis_ occurs in the Eocene

of the United States, while _Picus_ and _Homolopus_ have been found

respectively in the Lower and Middle Miocene of France.

{466}CHAPTER VII

NEORNITHES CARINATAE _CONCLUDED_

BRIGADE II–LEGION II (CORACIOMORPHAE _CONCLUDED_)

ORDER: PASSERIFORMES

ORDER XIV. PASSERIFORMES.

This Order contains about five thousand five hundred species, being more

than half the birds yet known. Their classification is attended with much

difficulty, and the anatomy of many more forms must be investigated before

anything approaching a satisfactory–not to say final–scheme can be

proposed. The earlier taxonomers often based their systems largely on

European genera, and were therefore obliged to interpose others, or even to

recognise new Families, as their knowledge extended, among the many new

discoveries, to various American and Australian forms.

The foundation of recent arrangements of the group, depending on the number

or position of the song-muscles, was laid between 1845 and 1847 by Johannes

Müller, who divided the then generally accepted Order _Insessores_ into

three tribes: (1) _Oscines_ or _Polymyodi_ [Song-birds, or those with many

(usually five or seven) pairs of song-muscles]; (2) _Tracheophones_ [where

the bronchi take no part in the formation of the voice-organ]; and (3)

_Picarii_ [corresponding in the main to Nitzsch's _Picariae_]; the two

former of which included most of the Passerine forms. Simultaneously with

Müller, Cabanis proposed a system grounded on similar principles; while in

1867 Huxley recognised of his group _Coracomorphae_ the divisions

_Polymyodae_, _Tracheophonae_, and _Oligomyodae_ [birds with few

song-muscles]. About ten years later Garrod, who was followed between 1880

and 1882 by W. A. Forbes, divided the Passeres into _Desmodactyli_, with a

band joining the muscles of the {467}hallux to the front toes, and

_Eleutherodactyli_, where the hind toe is free. The former contained only

the _Eurylaemidae_; the latter the _Mesomyodi_ (where the syringeal muscles

join the bronchial semi-rings in their middle or lateral portion), and the

_Acromyodi_ (where they are attached to the extremities). The subdivisions

need not be discussed here; but it should be noticed that, as opposed to

Müller, the attachment, and not the number, of muscles was the point relied

upon. Want of space forbids an account of the subsequent labours of Mr.

Sclater,[264] Professors Newton[265] and Fürbringer,[266] and others; but

the last-named no doubt influenced considerably the views of Dr. Gadow,

mainly accepted below. This author[267] takes into consideration not only

the attachment, but also the disposition of the muscles of the syrinx, and

distinguishes his _Passeriformes_ as (1) _Passeres anisomyodae_, where the

syringeal muscles are unequally inserted, either in the middle, or upon the

dorsal or ventral end only, of the bronchial semi-rings; (2) _Passeres

diacromyodae_, where some of the muscles are attached to the dorsal, and

some to the ventral ends. The former of these groups may be subdivided into

A. _Subclamatores_ and B. _Clamatores_; the latter into C. _Suboscines_ and

D. _Oscines_. Even the groups (1) and (2) are expressly stated not to rise

to the rank of Sub-Orders, while the _Oscines_ and other equivalent

divisions are of hardly more than Family value.

The great number of species in the Order _Passeriformes_ makes it necessary

to treat the various sections less fully than has been the case in the

foregoing portion of the work, while the Families are not, of course, on

the same level here as elsewhere.

1. PASSERES ANISOMYODAE.

A. _Subclamatores._

Fam. EURYLAEMIDAE.–The Broad-bills, a curious Old World group, have been by

various authors regarded as allied to the Rollers or to the Flycatchers.

They are distinguished from all other Passerine forms by the fact that the

hallux is connected with the front toes by a vinculum or band joining the

deep plantar tendons, and is thus incapable of independent motion. The beak

is very {468}broad, while it is comparatively small in _Calyptomena_;

_Corydon_, and to a less extent _Eurylaemus_ and _Sarcophanops_, have a

decided terminal hook to the maxilla. The metatarsus is scutellated in

front and smooth behind (laminiplantar); the hallux is weak; the third and

fourth toes are distinctly united, the claws are very short. The moderate

wings have ten primaries in _Calyptomena_, eleven elsewhere, _Eurylaemus_

having the eleventh very small; the secondaries are nine or ten; the tail

of twelve rectrices is usually long and rounded, but is graduated in

_Psarisomus_, short and square in _Calyptomena_. The adults have no

aftershaft or down, the tongue is sagittate, and _Sarcophanops_ has naked

orbits. The plumage in _Calyptomena viridis_ of the Indo-Malay countries is

bright green, with a large black post-auricular and a yellow pre-ocular

spot, three black bars on the wing-coverts, and blackish wing- and

tail-quills. The duller female has no black spots or bars. The dense

frontal feathers project forward over the beak. _C. whiteheadi_ of Borneo

has a black throat. These somewhat inactive birds inhabit thin jungles,

utter soft whistles, and feed on fruit; the rest of the Family eat little

but insects, though _Cymborhynchus macrorhynchus_, the Rain-bird of the

Malays, enjoys berries.

[Illustration: FIG. 98.–Broad-bill. _Calyptomena viridis._ × 7/16.]

_Eurylaemus javanicus_ is blackish, with yellow markings on the back, tail,

and wings; the head, neck, and under parts being vinous purple, with a

black crescentic chest-band, which is absent in the hen. _Corydon

sumatranus_ is black, with a white alar bar and a buffish-white throat and

fore-neck. They cover much the same area as _Calyptomena_. _Cymborhynchus_

shews black and crimson colours, while the beautiful _Psarisomus

dalhousiae_, found from the Eastern Himalayas to Borneo, has a green back

and under {469}surface, black and blue head and wings, yellow face and

throat, and blue tail becoming black below. _Serilophus_ contains two

grey-brown species with chestnut rumps, ranging from Sikkim to Tenasserim.

_Sarcophanops_ is peculiar to the Philippines.

The quiet and solitary Broad-bills inhabit forests, thickets, and gardens,

flying little, sitting sluggishly on the branches, taking insects on the

wing, and uttering whistling or metallic notes. They make large roughish

oval nests, with a large entrance near the top often protected by an

overhanging roof, while a sort of tail is commonly added; these are

suspended from low branches or plants close to water; the materials being

twigs, roots, tendrils, moss, or leaves, felted together and smoothly lined

with green foliage, flags, bamboo-spathes, or grass, sometimes renewed when

dry. From three to five eggs are laid, pale yellowish in _Calyptomena_,

white or rarely spotted with red in _Psarisomus_, and pinkish, buff or

white elsewhere, with markings varying from black to rufous.

B. _Clamatores._

This group includes the _Pittidae_, _Philepittidae_, _Xenicidae_,

_Tyrannidae_, _Oxyrhamphidae_, _Pipridae_, _Cotingidae_, _Phytotomidae_,

_Dendrocolaptidae_, _Formicariidae_, _Conopophagidae_, and

_Pteroptochidae_.

Apparently the furcula is U-shaped; the tongue varies; the aftershaft is

small, if present; the down is sparing or absent.

Fam. I. PITTIDAE.–The members of this Old World Family, nearly fifty in

number, range from India to North China, East Australia, New Guinea, and

New Britain; while one species is West African. They are stout,

strong-billed forms, with short rounded wings and tail, the long metatarsus

being more or less scutellated all round; the primaries number ten–the

outer being decidedly long–the secondaries eight, the rectrices twelve. The

plumage exhibits vivid scarlet, blue, and green tints, in addition to

yellow, purple, black, brown, and white; elongated neck-feathers occur in

_Anthocincla_, erect frontal plumes in _Coracopitta_. The tail in _Pitta_

is nearly square, but is pointed in _Eucichla_, and _Coracopitta_. The

habits seem to be fairly uniform, all the species haunting thickish jungle

or dense scrub, whether in the rock-strewn glens of India, or the damp

Malayan, Australian, and Papuasian forests. The birds are more often heard

than seen, though the plaintive, oft-repeated double whistle of the smaller

forms, or the mournful, triple cry of the larger, is seldom audible in the

mid-day heat, both being recognisable by the long-drawn final syllable.

{470}[Illustration: FIG. 99.–_Pitta brachyura._ × 3/7.]

They are chiefly terrestrial, and jump from rock to rock or branch to stump

with great agility; their apparently leisurely movements being really so

quick that a mere glimpse is usually obtained through some opening in the

foliage, while their habits are consequently difficult to observe. The

quiet watcher may, however, hear the birds pattering over the beds of

leaves, and see them hunting for molluscs and insects, or digging for worms

and ants, but the slightest movement causes them to depart with long rapid

hops, exchanged under pressure for a low, direct noiseless flight of short

duration. Pittas are habitually, though not invariably, solitary, and are

especially shy when breeding. _P. moluccensis_ ascends the trees to call,

_P. oatesi_ occasionally whistles at night, while _P. novae guineae_ flirts

its tail like a Wagtail. The exposed nest, with its lateral entrance, is

frequently placed on the ground at the foot of a tree or shrub, but

sometimes amongst undergrowth or in very low forks; it is a rounded fabric

of twigs, roots, bark, moss, leaves, and grass, often cemented with earth;

the larger species making a clumsier and looser structure, the smaller a

more compact mass. Unspotted eggs are rare, the usual colour being

creamy-white with brown, reddish, grey, or purplish-black spots or scrawls;

the number is from three to six. _Anthocincla phayrii_ and _Pitta

cucullata_ are said occasionally to build a platform of sticks before their

doorway, and the latter a projecting roof over it. The former species,

which inhabits Burma, is brown with a black coronal streak, black and white

superciliary stripes, white throat, and pink vent; _Pitta caerulea_ is

bright blue above, with black occiput and nape, but an otherwise ashy head;

it is greyish-buff below, with a partial black collar. The female {471}has

a brown back, and a buffish head, with black cross-bars and collar. This

very large form ranges from Tenasserim to Sumatra and Borneo; the smaller

_P. cyanea_ of Bhutan, Burma, and Siam is somewhat similar, but has a

scarlet nape, and bluish under parts with black bars. _P. maxima_ of Gilolo

is glossy black, with blue wing-coverts, a white alar bar, green edges to

the secondaries, white lower surface, black chin, and crimson belly. _P.

granatina_ of Borneo is purplish-black, with scarlet occiput and nape, blue

superciliary stripe, some blue on the wing, purplish throat, and scarlet

belly. _P. baudi_ of the same island is crimson above, with blue crown and

tail, black nape, and white alar bar; the lower parts being black, with

purple and blue abdomen: the female is dull brown below. _P. cyanoptera_,

reaching from Burma and Borneo to South China, is dull green above, with a

dark central stripe and a black margin to the brownish crown; the black

wing shews a white bar, and azure on the coverts; the tip of the black tail

and the rump are blue; the lower surface is buff, with crimson on the

belly. Several species have green under parts, a blue pectoral band, or no

blue on the rump and wings. _P. angolensis_ inhabits West Africa, _P.

nympha_ North China and Tsu-shima Island, _P. iris_ and _P. strepitans_

Australia; the latter reaches New Guinea, where it meets, among other

forms, the entirely black _Coracopitta lugubris_, as well as _P. mackloti_,

which extends to New Britain.

[Illustration: FIG. 100.–_Philepitta jala._ × ⅜.]

Fam. II. PHILEPITTIDAE.–This contains only the two species of _Philepitta_,

peculiar to Madagascar, which have bare orbits surmounted by a green

caruncle in the male, and metatarsi with a regular series of scales behind

(taxaspidean). _P. jala_ is black, with yellow at the bend of the wing; the

female is olive-green with yellow markings below. _P. schlegeli_ is green

above and yellow below in {472}both sexes, the male having a black head,

the female white streaks on that part. The outward form and habits recall

those of _Pitta_, but the latter are more arboreal. The young are

apparently spotted, unlike those of the Pittidae, which resemble the

adults.

Fam. III. XENICIDAE.–This contains the genera _Acanthidositta_ and

_Traversia_, each with one species, and _Xenicus_ with two; they are

remarkable New Zealand forms, in which the weak syringeal muscles only

reach the lowest tracheal ring. The slender metatarsi are almost smooth,

the claws acute and elongated; the short rectrices number ten, and the

tenth primary is nearly equal to the next; the secondaries are eight. The

tongue is lanceolate and horny. The stout-billed, long-legged _Xenicus

longipes_ has dark green upper parts, a brown crown, a yellowish rump and

sides, black cheeks, whitish superciliary stripes and throat, and silky,

bluish-grey under parts. The female is chiefly brown. _X. gilviventris_ is

olive-brown on the back and cheeks, and purplish-brown beneath, with some

rufous and a black spot on the wing. Both forms inhabit the South Island,

and are called "Bush-Wren" and Rock-Wren respectively. The former frequents

dark sub-alpine forests, restlessly searching the trees for insects, their

chrysalids and larvae, and uttering a weak note or a trill. It is seldom

seen on the ground, yet flies but little, as might be expected from its

short, rounded wings. The compact domed nest of moss, placed in low forks

or in tree-roots, contains five or six white eggs with pink blotches; when

built in holes it is open. The other species lives among débris high up the

hills, being almost entirely terrestrial, skulking round the boulders, and

eating dragonflies, lepidoptera, and insects generally, with scraps of fat

from any traveller's camp. The nest of roots, twigs, and leaves, lined with

feathers, is placed in crevices, and contains some five white eggs. The

similar _Traversia lyalli_ of Stephens Island is said to be nocturnal.

_Acanthidositta chloris_, the Rifleman, is dull green above with yellower

rump, and fulvous white below; the moderate wings are blackish, with green

edgings and yellow bars; the eye-stripe is white; the short rounded tail is

black with light tip. The female has an olive upper surface with brown

markings, a yellow rump, and buffish under parts. This species inhabits the

hill-forests of both the main islands of New Zealand, where it actively

searches the trees for food with quivering wings, and utters a feeble

"cheep." The more or less bottle-shaped nest, placed in holes in trees,

{473}buildings, and so forth, is formed of bents, roots, and feathers, and

contains from three to five white eggs.

Fam. IV. TYRANNIDAE.–This comprises some four hundred species, chiefly of

an olive or black-and-grey coloration, which is occasionally relieved by

bright scarlet as in _Pyrocephalus_, orange-red as in _Muscivora_, or

yellow as in _Todirostrum_; but these hues are not necessarily common to

whole genera. _Agriornis_ and _Megarhynchus_ are exceptionally large forms,

but the majority are small, and in habits and appearance resemble the Old

World Flycatchers, or even Shrikes. From the former, however, they are

easily distinguished by their normal outer primary and the exteriorly

scutellated back of the metatarsus (exaspidean). Dr. Sclater[268]

recognises four Sub-families, _Taeniopterinae_, _Platyrhynchinae_,

_Elaineinae_, and _Tyranninae_.

The curved bill, varying in length and stoutness, is compressed and bristly

at the gape in the Taeniopterinae, hardly bristly in the Elaineinae,

depressed and decidedly bristly in the Platyrhynchinae and Tyranninae;

while the culmen is most strongly hooked in the larger species, being much

curved in _Oncostoma_, particularly broad and flat in _Platyrhynchus_,

_Megarhynchus_, _Muscivora_, _Todirostrum_, and _Euscarthmus_, swollen and

very wide in _Rhynchocyclus_. In the first and last of the Sub-families the

metatarsus is strong and often long; in the remainder it is comparatively

weak; _Centrites_ has an extremely elongated hallux, correlated with

Lark-like habits. The wing is usually short, but is often long in the

Taeniopterinae and Tyranninae; the outer of the ten primaries are at times

acuminate in _Tyrannus_, _Hapalocercus_, _Cnipolegus_, and _Taenioptera_,

whereas in _Colopterus_ and _Alectrurus_ these quills are unusually

reduced. The secondaries are nine. The tail, normally of twelve rectrices,

varies much in length, and is very deeply forked and graduated in

_Milvulus_, _Muscipipra_, and three members of _Tyrannus_, moderately

divided in _Contopus_ and certain species of _Taenioptera_, and so forth;

it is not infrequently nearly square; while it is long and rounded in

_Capsiempis_ and the like; long and graduated, with only ten

narrowly-barbed feathers in _Culicivora_; of the same shape in

_Cybernetes_; and excessively reduced in _Orchilus ecaudatus_. _Copurus_

possesses two very long median rectrices; the male of _Alectrurus tricolor_

has the two fairly long outer feathers with their inner webs abnormally

developed, and that of _A. risorius_ has them enormously lengthened and

broadened.

{474}The Taeniopterinae, which are generally black, grey, and white,

frequent the open parts of wooded districts, river-sides, or exceptionally

marshes, in South America, a few of them extending north of Panama; the

Elaineinae and Platyrhynchinae are olive, grey, brown, and yellow, and

inhabit dense forests from South Mexico to Patagonia, _Ornithion imberbe_

ranging as far north as Texas; the Tyranninae–with many large

species–normally exhibit olive, grey, yellow, or white in varying

proportions, and include most of the Nearctic genera, such as _Contopus_,

_Empidonax_, _Myiarchus_, and _Tyrannus_, as well as many Neotropical

forms, and the entirely Antillean _Blacicus_ and _Lawrencia_. Erectile

crests occur in some cases in _Tyrannulus_, _Cnipolegus_, _Colopterus_,

_Pseudotriccus_, _Lophotriccus_, _Machetornis_, _Muscivora_, _Empidonax_,

_Anaeretes_, _Elainea_, _Pyrocephalus_, _Myiobius_, and _Mitrephanes_;

white eye-rings are found in _Euscarthmus zosterops_, _E. orbitatus_, and

_Capsiempis orbitalis_; a fleshy yellow caruncle surrounds each eye in

_Lichenops_; and in the breeding male of _Alectrurus risorius_ the throat

and cheeks shew bare orange skin.

The following are examples of the coloration, which is often similar in

both sexes. _Tyrannus pipiri_, the King-bird of temperate North America,

ranging to Peru in winter, is dark grey, with a concealed orange patch on

the black crown, black and white wings and tail, and white under parts.

_Pyrocephalus rubineus_, of South America north of Buenos Aires, is dark

cinereous with crimson head and lower surface, the female being grey above,

and chiefly white below with grey stripes. _Muscivora regia_ of Guiana and

Amazonia is brown, with a scarlet crest tipped with purplish, and has

ochraceous under parts with brownish bars. The crest is yellower in the

hen. _Megarhynchus pitangua_, of Central and South America to Paraguay, is

brown, with yellow lower surface, a black head, white superciliary streaks

joining on the nape, a concealed orange coronal patch, and a white throat.

_Elainea pagana_, ranging from South Mexico to Brazil, is dull olive above,

and greyish-white below with yellow belly; a spot on the crown and two alar

bars being white. _Cyanotis azarae_ of La Plata, Chili, and West Peru has

bronzy-green upper and yellow lower surface, with a partial black band

beneath and a crimson vent; the head is black with a crimson spot, the

wings and tail are black and white. _Todirostrum cinereum_ of Central

America and eastern South America is greyish above and yellow below, with

black crown, wings, and tail, the primaries having yellow edges and

{475}the tail a white tip. _Taenioptera dominicana_, of South-East Brazil

and Argentina, is white with the wings and tail mainly black; _Cnipolegus

unicolor_ of Upper Amazonia is uniform black.

Tyrants are active and restless birds, chiefly met with near rivers or

marshes, where they are constantly seen sitting alone on the branches of

trees, bushes, dead thistles, and giant pampas-grasses, or more rarely, as

in the Chat-like _Muscisaxicola_, on clods and boulders; thence they dart,

like Flycatchers, upon their prey. _Centrites_ frequents bare plains and

loves the ground; _Serpophaga_ and _Sayornis_ haunt streams, and flirt the

tail like a Wagtail; _Fluvicola_, _Alectrurus_, and _Cyanotis_ inhabit

reed-beds, and climb about the bending stems in Tit-like fashion; the

Taeniopterinae are mainly terrestrial, and often form flocks,

_Myiotheretes_ running and flying like a Thrush, and even accompanying

bands of Plovers; _Machetornis_ searches the backs of cattle for insects,

and dusts itself like a Lark. Many members of the family are decidedly shy,

but the majority are otherwise, and in especial the Tyranninae, which are

excessively bold and pugnacious when breeding, attacking even the

Carrion-Hawk (_Milvago_), and bullying their smaller relatives. In a fair

number of species the sexes are usually observed apart; in others they are

as invariably in company. The range extends to ten thousand feet or more in

the Andes, _Muscisaxicola macloviana_ being found at that altitude, as well

as down to the sea-coast in Patagonia; while in some cases semi-migratory

movements take place at certain times of year. The powers of wing are

commonly great, especially in the agile King-bird and its congeners;

_Taenioptera_ and _Agriornis_ can fly as well as hop; _Centrites_, though

of terrestrial habits, moves swiftly or circles easily in the air;

_Pitangus_ and _Empidonax minimus_ quarter the ground for food with

undulating movements. _Pyrocephalus rubineus_ soars with upraised vibrating

wings to a considerable height, with many a rise and fall; _Alectrurus

tricolor_ goes slowly and vertically up with rapid pulsations of the

pinions, and then comes slanting down; while the graceful Scissor-tail

(_Milvulus_) twists and turns about in the air, alternately opening and

shutting its long forked rectrices, or whirling aloft at will to dart

earthwards again like a rocket.

{476}[Illustration: FIG. 101.–Scissor-tail. _Milvulus tyrannus._ × 2/7.]

The usual note is shrill, piercing, and often harsh or angry, as in

_Tyrannus_, _Myiarchus_, and _Machetornis_; it is loud, grating, and rarely

mellow, in _Pitangus_ and _Cybernetes_; a low plaintive whistle or pipe is

uttered by _Myiotheretes_, _Cyanotis_, and most of the Taeniopterinae,

_Sayornis_ having a ringing cry, _supposed_ to resemble "Phoebe," which

name it bears in North America, and _Fluvicola_ and _Cnipolegus_ giving

vent to clicking sounds. Many species twitter, chirp, or chatter, while

_Pyrocephalus rubineus_, _Hapalocercus flaviventer_, _Ornithion imberbe_,

_Contopus ardesiacus_, and _Empidonax flaviventer_ are stated to have a

pleasant trill approaching a song. These notes may be uttered by the birds

either when soaring in the air or when stationary. The food normally

consists of insects, caught upon the wing with an audible snap of the bill;

but _Taenioptera_ often, instead of hawking from a perch, pounces upon

crawling beetles, grasps them in its claws, and devours them upon the

earth. _Pitangus bolivianus_ and some other forms even eat mice, young

birds, small snakes, lizards, fishes, frogs, spiders, molluscs, worms, and

insect-larvae, beating the larger creatures upon a branch to kill them.

_Elainea strepera_, _Myiarchus crinitus_, and some species of _Tyrannus_,

will eat berries and seeds. A bulky nest is often fashioned of rough twigs,

moss, grass, straws, wool, hair, and rags; which may be open as in

_Tyrannus_, or domed as in _Pitangus bolivianus_, and placed in trees in

either case: or it may be beautifully felted with moss, lichens, and

spiders'-webs, and lined with hair and feathers, as in _Elainea_ and

_Serpophaga_. _Sayornis_ commonly makes a foundation of mud pellets, adding

coarse materials above with feathers for bedding, the fabric being fixed to

rocks or buildings. Again, many species build slight or fairly compact

nests of grass, twigs, and softer materials {477}in bushes, forks, or

outgrowths of trees. _Copurus_, _Taenioptera_, _Machetornis_, and

_Myiarchus_ commonly use old holes of Woodpeckers; _Todirostrum_ and

_Fluvicola_ often make hanging purse-like structures; _Cyanotis_ attaches

its conical nest of papery reeds to the stems of those plants; _Serpophaga_

frequently suspends its domicile to twigs, roots, or _grasses_ overhanging

water; _Alectrurus_, _Lichenops_, _Hapalocercus_, and _Centrites_ build in

rush- or grass-tufts, and _Muscisaxicola_ under stones. _Taenioptera_ and

_Machetornis_, moreover, will lay in the "ovens" of _Furnarius_, or in the

nests of _Anumbius acuticaudus_ (pp. 486, 487). _Muscivora mexicana_ makes

a curious hanging spindle-shaped nest, surrounded by loose materials. The

eggs are usually whitish, salmon- or cream-coloured, and may be unspotted,

or dotted and ringed with red, purple, or brown; those of _Pyrocephalus

rubineus_ have black and grey markings, those of _Machetornis_ dense brown

stripes or spots, those of _Myiarchus_ tangled purple or red-brown lines

and marblings, while those of _Centrites niger_ are plain bluish-green.

Fam. V. OXYRHAMPHIDAE.–The members differ from the _Tyrannidae_ in the

straight bill, and the serrated outer web of the tenth primary of the male.

The sole genus _Oxyrhamphus_ has three greenish forms, with red crests, and

black-spotted yellow or white lower parts.

Fam. VI. PIPRIDAE.–The Manakins, often considered a sub-section of the

Cotingidae, are for the most part small thick-set birds, though

_Heteropelma_ and some other genera have greater dimensions. The seventy or

more species may be divided into the Sub-families, _Piprinae_, with

brilliant males, and _Ptilochlorinae_, where the sexes are usually

dull-coloured and similar;[269] the former ranging from South Mexico to

North Argentina, the latter to South-East Brazil. The curved bill is

generally short and wide at the base in the Piprinae, with an indistinct

terminal notch; but is somewhat elongated, much compressed, decidedly

notched, and usually provided with rictal bristles in the Ptilochlorinae.

The metatarsus is exaspidean (p. 473)–though nearly smooth in _Metopothrix_

and _Masius_–and is comparatively slender in most of the Piprinae, stronger

in the Ptilochlorinae, _Piprites_, and _Ceratopipra_; the outer and

mid-toes being partially united. The exterior of the ten primaries is

always short, while the wing is much elongated in _Chloropipo_; the

secondaries are nine or ten. {478}In the males of some forms the remiges

differ from those of the females; thus the shafts of the primaries are

thickened and pointed in _Chiroxiphia_, similar but incurved in _Helicura_

and _Chiromachaeris_, with much attenuated barbs in the latter; in

_Ptilochloris_ the seventh primary is modified and bends outwards. In

_Machaeropterus_ the wing-bones are flattened; the secondaries have thick

stems bending inwards towards the tip, and shew reduced vanes, save the

eighth and ninth, while the sixth and seventh have the shaft terminally

developed into a horny excrescence. The tail is usually short and square,

but is long in _Chloropipo_ and _Metopia_, rounded in the latter and

_Masius_, graduated in _Metopothrix_ and _Heterocercus_. The outer of the

twelve feathers are much elongated in _Cirrhopipra_, being acuminate in _C.

heterocerca_, curved and filiform in _C. filicauda_; the two median

rectrices are lengthened in _Helicura_; while in three species of

_Chiroxiphia_ they are also long, or even linear in _C. linearis_. Frontal

crests occur in _Metopia_, _Masius_, and _Metopothrix_; vertical crests in

_Pipra serena_, _P. suavissima_, and four species of _Chiroxiphia_;

_Ceratopipra_ has a peculiar extended nuchal tuft, _Chiromachaeris_ an

elongated beard.

[Illustration: FIG. 102.–Manakin. _Pipra mentalis._ × ½.]

As examples of coloration we may take the following:–_Chloropipo

flavicapilla_ has a yellow head, neck, and under parts, a green back, and

brownish wings; _Xenopipo atronitens_ is uniform black; _Ceratopipra

cornuta_, black with scarlet head, neck, and thighs; _Cirrhopipra

filicauda_ similarly coloured, with yellow forehead and lower surface.

_Pipra leucocilla_ is black with a white crown; _P. velutina_ has a blue

cap, _P. suavissima_ an erect white vertical crest, lilac rump, and orange

mid-abdomen. _Machaeropterus regulus_ exhibits green upper parts, a scarlet

crown, slaty wing- and tail-quills, and white, green, and rufous under

surface. _Chiroxiphia pareola_ is black, with blue mantle and crimson

crest; _Chiromachaeris aurantiaca_ is also black, with orange nuchal band,

cheeks and breast, green rump, and yellow abdomen. The females are green,

with yellowish or whitish tints below. {479}_Ptilochloris squamata_ is in

both sexes olive-green, with blackish cap and wings, and yellowish under

parts marked with black; others again of the Ptilochlorinae are chiefly

olive or rufous,[270] three species of _Heteropelma_ having concealed

coronal patches of yellow.

Manakins as a rule inhabit deep forests, or thick undergrowth near marshes,

where they incessantly creep about the branches like Tits, and take short

flights after passing insects. _Chiroxiphia caudata_ is called in Brazil

the "Fandango-bird," from the fact that one individual often sits and

sings, while its fellows dance up and down to the music. Two males of _C.

linearis_ have been seen skipping before a female, and uttering meanwhile

their cry of "to-le-do." _Chiromachaeris_ makes a sound like a whip

cracking, followed by a continuous rattle–possibly caused by the wings; but

this noise seems peculiar to the genus, the usual cry being loud and

whistling. Fruits of all sorts, especially berries and seeds, and

occasionally insects, form the food. _Chiromachaeris manacus_ and

_Chiroxiphia caudata_ hang loose, shallow nests of grass–the latter with

slight additions of wool, hair, tendrils, and leaves–from the forks of low

shrubs; the two eggs being reddish-or yellowish-white, thickly blotched

with red or brown.

Fam. VII. COTINGIDAE.–This group, divided by Mr. Sclater[271] into the

Sub-families _Tityrinae_, _Lipauginae_, _Attilinae_, _Rupicolinae_,

_Cotinginae_, and _Gymnoderinae_, contains more than a hundred species; but

the _Attilinae_ are sometimes placed in the Tyrannidae or the

Formicariidae, _Iodopleura_ and _Calyptura_ in the Pipridae. The range

extends from South Mexico to Argentina, _Carpodectes_ being restricted to

Costa Rica and Nicaragua, _Phoenicocercus_, _Haematoderus_, and

_Gymnocephalus_ to Guinea and Amazonia, _Doliornis_ to Central Peru,

_Tijuca_, _Phibalura_, and _Calyptura_ to South Brazil.

The bill varies from strong, elongated, compressed, and curved, as in

_Tijuca_, the Tityrinae and Attilinae, to short and broad, as in

_Phibalura_, _Querula_, and _Chasmorhynchus_; the culmen being particularly

elevated in _Gymnoderus_, and much hooked in the Attilinae. The metatarsus,

scutellated in front, and usually covered with small round scales behind

(pycnaspidean), is especially strong in _Pyroderus_ and _Rupicola_, partly

feathered in the latter, and posteriorly corrugated in _Lipaugus_; while

_Attila_ and other kindred forms have the outer toes somewhat

{480}connected. The wings may be long, as in _Carpodectes_ and

_Iodopleura_, or short as in _Phoenicocercus_ and _Calyptura_; the ten

primaries, of which the outer is small, are much reduced and twisted in

_Chirocylla_–particularly in the male; in that sex of _Rupicola_ some have

the inner web cut away at the tip, while the external secondaries have the

outer vanes filamentous; the Tityrinae have the ninth primary abbreviated

and often scimetar-shaped; the seventh has a terminal horny process in the

male of _Phoenicocercus_. The secondaries are ten or eleven. In _Xipholena_

the greater coverts are stiff and elongated. The tail of twelve rectrices

is usually moderate and square; though very short in the Cotinginae, long

in _Tijuca_, deeply forked in _Phibalura_, and nearly hidden by its coverts

in _Cotinga amabilis_. Bristles surround the gape in the Lipauginae and

Attilinae, but vary elsewhere; _Rupicola_ has a large compressed crest,

_Cephalopterus_ (Fig. 103), one like an umbrella, _Phoenicocercus_,

_Doliornis_, _Heliochera_, _Calyptura_, and _Phibalura_ moderate tufts.

Wattles and naked areas occur in _Chasmorhynchus_ and _Cephalopterus_; some

species of _Tityra_ have the lores and orbits bare; _Gymnoderus_ has the

sides of the head and the whole neck, _Gymnocephalus_ the entire head

unfeathered.

The plumage is ordinarily plain rufous, green, or grey; the females being

nearly always dull, though many of the males are very brilliant. Among

these _Tityra_ exhibits black and white hues, _Hadrostomus_ is chiefly grey

or black, with a rosy band below in three cases, _Pachyrhamphus_ is green,

black, yellow, rufous, or grey, sometimes varied with white. _Lathria

streptophora_ has a pink collar, _Aulia_ irregular black spots below.

_Phoenicocercus carnifex_ is dark brown, with scarlet crown, rump, most of

the tail and under parts; _Rupicola crocea_, the well-known Cock of the

Rock, is bright orange, with brown and white wings and partly blackish

rectrices; _Phibalura flavirostris_ is black and yellow with concealed

scarlet crest; _Tijuca_ is black, with yellow on the wing; _Ampelion_ is

green, relieved by brown, black, and yellow; _Pipreola_ is green, with

black, scarlet, yellow, or orange markings on the throat or breast;

_Cotinga_ exhibits splendid blue and purple tints; _Xipholena pompadora_

has an unusual reddish-purple hue, coupled with almost white wings.

_Carpodectes_ is snowy white, with leaden-coloured or yellow bill;

_Heliochera_ has black, grey, white, or yellow coloration, with a chestnut

crest; _Iodopleura_ shews a lilac tuft on each side of the breast; and

_Calyptura_ {481}is chiefly greenish-yellow, with a scarlet, black-edged

crest. Of the peculiar Gymnoderinae, _Haematoderus_, which has elongated

head-, neck-, rump-, and breast-feathers, is crimson with brown wings and

tail, the female having brown on the back; _Querula_ is dull black with a

red collar of lengthened plumes; _Pyroderus_ is black with crimson throat

and fore-neck. _Cephalopterus ornatus_, the Umbrella-bird, is entirely

black, with a huge expanded umbrella-like crest of bare-shafted incurved

feathers, and a long flattened and feathered gular wattle; _C. penduliger_

has this appendage extraordinarily long and cylindrical; _C. glabricollis_

a bare orange throat with a terminal tuft on the red outgrowth.

_Chasmorhynchus niveus_ is white, with a spiral erectile process on the

forehead, thinly covered with white feathers: _C. nudicollis_ has the

cheeks and throat naked and bristly, but lacks the excrescence; _C.

variegatus_ is white, with a brown head, black wings, and bare papillose

throat; _C. tricarunculatus_ is chestnut, with a white head bearing three

caruncles, on the forehead and at the gape. In this genus the females are

green above and chiefly yellow below. The bill may be orange or red in the

Family, while _Gymnoderus_ alone has large white powder-down patches on the

flanks.

[Illustration: FIG. 103.–Umbrella-bird. _Cephalopterus ornatus._ × ⅕.]

{482}[Illustration: FIG. 104.–Bell-bird. _Chasmorhynchus niveus._ × 2/7.

(From _Waterton's Wanderings_.)]

The habits of these woodland birds are comparatively little known, but most

of them frequent high trees, though some prefer low bushes; such forms as

_Lipaugus_ and _Heteropelma_ haunt dense forests, _Pipreola_ and

_Phibalura_ more open situations, while small flocks often occur at

considerable elevations, _Heliochera_ reaching ten thousand feet.

_Cephalopterus ornatus_ loves islands in rivers, _Chasmorhynchus_ and

_Xenopsaris_ marshy glades or even sedge-growth. The flight, usually of

short duration, is heavy and noisy in _Pipreola_ and elsewhere,

Swallow-like in _Phibalura_; insects are often captured on the wing, and

not only these but spiders, molluscs, and even lizards, are occasionally

sought upon the ground. Berries, seeds, and the like, however, constitute

the chief food. _Cephalopterus_ and _Hadrostomus_, at least occasionally,

beat their prey upon a branch before swallowing it. The members of this

Family are usually somewhat shy and dull, but the males of _Rupicola_ were

observed by Schomburgk to dance in turn with outspread wings before an

assembled flock, strutting and parading with frequent leaps. This bird is

credited with a voice like a monkey; _Chasmorhynchus niveus_ is termed

Campanero or Bell-bird from its clear, bell-like note, uttered with the

caruncle erected, while its congeners have also ringing cries;

_Cephalopterus_ gives vent to long deep "lowings" at sunrise and sunset.

_Tityra semifasciata_ utters frog-like sounds, _Pachyrhamphus_ a loud

whistle, and other species notes resembling those of Tanagers, Tyrants, or

Wrens. _Rupicola_ fastens a nest of mud, surmounted by twigs and lined with

moss, to projections of rocks {483}in damp, sunless caves, laying two buff

eggs with reddish-brown and lilac spots; _Pyroderus orenocensis_ deposits

similar eggs on platforms of sticks placed in tree-forks; _Tityra

semifasciata_ lines holes in decayed limbs with dry grass to receive its

white eggs; _Hadrostomus niger_, _H. homochrous_, and some species of

_Pachyrhamphus_, hang big nests of such materials as leaves, plant-stalks

and wool, with side entrances, from low branches; the two to four eggs,

where known, being chocolate, faintly marked or unspotted; _Phibalura_

fixes a cup of lichens in the crotch of a large tree, laying twice annually

two greenish-blue eggs with neutral markings; _Cephalopterus_ is said to

make a rough nest of sticks; and _Pipreola riefferi_ to deposit pale

salmon-coloured eggs, sparingly spotted with reddish-brown.

Fam. VIII. PHYTOTOMIDAE.–The Plant-cutters constitute a single genus

_Phytotoma_, of four Finch-like species, having strongly serrated bills and

pycnaspidean (p. 479) metatarsi. The primaries number ten, the secondaries

nine, the rectrices twelve. _P. rara_ of Chili is brown and black, with red

crown and lower surface, white margins to the wing-coverts, and red-banded

lateral tail-feathers; the female has yellowish-brown under parts streaked

with black, and a brown crown. _P. raimondii_ of North-West Peru is

somewhat like, but has only a narrow red frontlet; _P. angustirostris_ of

Bolivia is greyer, with white on the secondaries and tail, and a browner

breast; the hen being chiefly greyish, with black striations above and

spots below; _P. rutila_ of Argentina and North Patagonia is very similar.

Flocks or pairs of Plant-eaters are found in dry open situations, the

former often consisting solely of the comparatively unsuspicious males;

they sit aloft on bushes, but hide when alarmed. The flight is whirring

with sudden short undulations; the food consists of seeds and other fruits,

tender shoots, buds and leaves; while the voice is decidedly harsh, the

alarm-note of the male resembles the bleating of a kid, and the female's

cry is cricket-like. The slight, shallow nest of twigs and fibres is placed

in thick bushes, and contains four bluish-green eggs, flecked with brown.

The birds are said to cut plants off close to the ground without apparent

object.

The four Families that follow are often classed as _Tracheophonae_, and

have loud voices owing to their tracheal syrinx (p. 22).

Fam. IX. DENDROCOLAPTIDAE.–This group, with over 200 species, occupies the

Neotropical Region, excluding the Antilles, {484}and is divided by Mr.

Sclater[272] into the Sub-families _Furnariinae_, _Synallaxinae_,

_Philydorinae_, _Sclerurinae_, and _Dendrocolaptinae_.

The extremely variable bill is short and straight in _Geobates_ and

_Henicornis_, Warbler-like in the Synallaxinae, stouter and Shrike-like in

the Philydorinae, extremely strong in _Hylexetastes_, short and incurved in

_Xenerpestes_ and _Phacellodomus_, short with upturned genys in

_Glyphorhynchus_, _Xenops_, and _Pygarrhicus_, very long, thin, and

decurved in _Xiphorhynchus_, very long, but only slightly curved in

_Nasica_, and so forth. It is much hooked in _Ancistrops_. The

endaspidean[273] metatarsus may be long and slender, as in

_Sylviorthorhynchus_; stronger, as in the terrestrial Furnariinae and

Sclerurinae; or shorter, as in the scansorial Dendrocolaptinae, which

usually have large toes and sharp claws. The scales are almost obsolete in

_Furnarius_ and _Lochmias_; the outer and middle toes are partially

connected in the Sclerurinae and Dendrocolaptinae. The wings, which have

ten primaries and about nine secondaries, are long in _Pseudocolaptes_,

moderate in _Xenerpestes_, short and rounded in _Lochmias_, and frequently

decidedly abbreviated. The variable tail, normally of twelve rectrices, is

often graduated; the shafts of the quills are stiffened and spiny in the

Sclerurinae and Dendrocolaptinae, the latter of which climb and feed in

Woodpecker fashion; in the Synallaxinae it is generally long, with pointed

but comparatively soft feathers; in the Philydorinae it is short,

_Anumbius_ having particularly sharp rhachides. It is also short, though

rounded, in _Xenerpestes_, _Coryphistera_, and _Limnophyes_, similar but

longer in _Clibanornis_, while it has the shafts projecting beyond the

vanes in _Homorus_, _Oxyurus_, and _Sittosomus_. _Schizoeaca_ and

_Synallaxis_ have only ten rectrices, and _Sylviorthorhynchus_ apparently

possesses but six, the outer being very short and the inner excessively

long with narrow decomposed webs. _Limnornis_, at least, has the tongue

bristly towards the end.

The coloration is chiefly brown of various shades, often with the tail

chestnut–or, rarely, the body, as in _Homorus_; spots, striations, or

cross-bars, of white, fulvous, or black occur frequently, and _Margarornis_

has pearl-like markings below. The rump or under parts may be white, and

the throat occasionally exhibits a black, rufous or yellow patch, or the

breast a chestnut band; while black, rusty, brown, or grey caps are not

uncommon, that of {485}_Siptornis albiceps_ being white. The bill may be

red, or exceptionally the feet white, as in _Furnarius leucopus_. Crests

are found in _F. cristatus_, _Synallaxis semicinerea_, _Coryphistera_, and

_Homorus_. The sexes, as far as known, are similar. The large _Drymornis

bridgesi_ is over a foot long, but many forms are not half that size, and

most are comparatively small.

[Illustration: FIG. 105.–Nest of Oven-bird (_Furnarius_). × ⅕.]

The habits are extremely diverse. _Geositta cunicularia_ flits along low

and swiftly, like a Wheatear, with the tail in motion, or crouches and runs

before the pedestrian, uttering a note resembling piti-piti, varied by a

ringing trill. It frequents bare spots, and bores oblique tunnels in

biscacha burrows, sandy banks, or mud walls, ending in cavities lined with

soft grasses, where it lays five white eggs. The food consists of seeds,

insects, and their larvae, the bill being commonly used to dig. _Lochmias

nematura_ fills a similar hole with a large-domed nest of twigs and roots,

lined with leaves, which contains two white eggs. The Oven-birds

(_Furnarius_) run or hop unconcernedly among the wayfarers with the head

thrown back, or pause with one foot uplifted; they utter incessant and

loud, but not unmelodious, cries with the beak outstretched, which are even

heard at night.[274] Worms, {486}insects and their larvae are sought upon

the ground, and both sexes incubate, the pairs keeping together throughout

the year. The curious nest (Fig. 105) is placed in exposed situations on

branches, in forks of trees or shrubs, on posts, rocks, or house-roofs; it

has thick walls, almost unbreakable when dry, of clayey mud and dung mixed

with a little hair or dry grass, a lining of the same materials underlying

the three to five white eggs. This massive structure has an inner chamber

with an outer passage running partly round it, and is generally the work of

several months, the materials being only procurable in damp weather. The

above refers at least to _Furnarius cinnamomeus_, _F. minor_, and _F.

rufus_ (the "Hornero" or Baker); but White[275] states that _F. figulus_

builds a stick nest, and E. Bartlett[276] that _F. torridus_ deposits four

creamy white eggs on twigs and bents in holes in banks. _Upucerthia_,

resembling _Geositta_ in general habits, ranges to an altitude of nine

thousand feet. The lively _Cinclodes_ recalls both the Wheatear and the

Dipper, as it runs with upturned tail from stone to stone, takes short, low

flights, or hunts for crustaceans, molluscs, and insects in the water,

equally happy on the streams of the Andes, or the desolate lake-sides of

Patagonia. The note is a sharp trill, while three white eggs are laid on a

bed of grass and fur in holes. _Sclerurus_ frequents damp forests,

scratching among the leaves, and crouching, when startled, on some trunk.

_Phloeocryptes_ flies weakly, but hops actively about reed-beds in pursuit

of flies, uttering reiterated grating notes; it attaches its Wren-like nest

of grass or rushes and mud, lined with feathers, moss and hair, to a few of

the reed-stems, and builds a projection over the entrance. The two or three

oval eggs are glossy blue. The shrill-voiced _Leptasthenura_ clings to the

branches in search of insects like a Tit, and lays from three to six

pointed white eggs on soft materials in holes in trees, sometimes utilizing

nests of _Furnarius rufus_, _Siptornis sordida_, and other species.

_Synallaxis_, usually seen in pairs searching for food upon the bushes, has

a persistent harsh double call or a cat-like cry; it forms a loose, oval

structure, which would fill an ordinary wheel-barrow, of thorny sticks and

twigs in forks of trees, lining it with hair, feathers, woolly leaves,and

the like, and often capping it with more leaves. This generally possesses a

lower chamber connected by a vertical or horizontal passage with the

entrance, itself protected by a tubular fabric; while more than {487}one

nest is often found in the same tree. The three or four eggs are pale

greenish-blue or whitish. _Siptornis sordida_ appears to have similar

habits, but several of its congeners run like mice; or conceal themselves

in herbage or holes, the marsh-loving species uttering very whirring notes.

_S. sulphurifera_ fabricates a domed nest of grass among rushes, and lays

two white eggs; that of _S. maluroïdes_ is open, and lined with feathers

and wool, though the site is similar; that of _S. striaticeps_ resembles

the last-mentioned, but is placed in a tree-fork and contains four or five

white eggs. _S. hudsoni_ arches the grass over a hollow in the ground in

open spots, and deposits five pale buff eggs on a little powdered dung; its

flight is Pipit-like, and its cry melancholy. _Phacellodomus_, usually

found in hot dry valleys, is sluggish, and has a shrill, harsh voice; the

nest, containing four white eggs, being hung from the end of a branch, and

recalling that of _Synallaxis_. _Xenops_, _Sittosomus_, _Picolaptes_,

_Xiphorhynchus_, _Pseudocolaptes_, and many other forms are denizens of

damp forests, and run up the tree-trunks spirally like Creepers, searching

for prey and tapping the bark as Woodpeckers do; the cries are plaintive or

noisy, and the white eggs, apparently two in number, are laid in holes.

Large insects are sometimes battered upon the branches. _Anumbius

acuticaudus_, the "Thorn-bird" or "Firewood Gatherer," makes a bulky nest

some two feet high of thorny sticks, and places it in isolated trees. From

an entrance near the top a spiral or zigzag passage leads to a lower cavity

lined with grass, hair, feathers, and wool, where five pointed white eggs

are deposited; while sometimes an upper roosting chamber is added. This

bird utters ticking chirps or trills, and feeds mainly upon the ground,

regaining the branches with difficulty. _Homorus lophotes_, the

"Cachalote," with its strikingly white eyes and blue beak, haunts plains

with scattered trees or bushes, being decidedly shy and quick of foot,

though weak of flight; it eats insects, and turns up the earth with its

bill or claws. Rasping cries are often emitted in concert; while the

nest–even larger than that of _Anumbius_–is a loose mass of similar

structure, placed on some low branch or in a bush, the three or four white

eggs occasionally shewing through the bottom. _Drymornis_, again, has

Woodpecker-like habits, whereas _Limnornis_ and _Limnophyes_ creep about

dense reed-beds, and only appear now and then to utter jarring or

chattering sounds.

{488}Fam. X. FORMICARIIDAE.–The so-called "Ant-birds"–not known to live on

ants–are plentiful in the forests of northern South America, whence the

numbers decrease to Central America, Chili and Argentina. Of the two

hundred or more species none inhabit the Antilles, but three occur in

Trinidad and one in Tobago. Mr. Sclater[277] allows as provisional

Sub-families the strong _Thamnophilinae_, the weaker _Formicariinae_, and

the long-legged _Grallariinae_.

The beak is strong, compressed, hooked, and terminally toothed in the

Thamnophilinae, being exaggerated in _Batara_, large and swollen in

_Cymbilanius_, and exceptionally hooked in the former genus and

_Pygoptila_; _Cymbilanius_, _Neoctantes_, and _Clytoctantes_ have the genys

upturned. In the Formicariinae the bill is weaker and but slightly hooked,

being very long and thin in _Rhamphocaenus_; in the Grallariinae it is

usually elevated and compressed, though broad in _Pittasoma_. The

taxaspidean metatarsus (p. 471) is moderate or short in the Thamnophilinae,

and remarkably long in the Grallariinae, where it may be very strong, as in

_Pittasoma_; among the Formicariinae it is short and thick in _Rhopoterpe_

and _Formicivora_, long and thin in _Psilorhamphus_ and _Formicarius_, and

so forth. In _Phlogopsis_, _Psilorhamphus_, _Rhamphocaenus_,

_Heterocnemis_, _Myrmeciza_, _Hypocnemis_, _Pithys_, and _Gymnopithys_ the

scutes are nearly fused. The outer and middle toes are joined towards the

base. The wings, which have ten primaries and nine secondaries, are

normally short and rounded, though longer in _Rhopoterpe_; the tail is

commonly long and broad in the Thamnophilinae, varies greatly in the

Formicariinae, and is very short and square in the Grallariinae. It may be

rounded or graduated in the first two Sub-families, and _Terenura_ has it

remarkably thin; _Cercomacra_, _Formicivora caudata_, and _F. ferruginea_

have only ten rectrices in place of the usual twelve. _Thamnomanes_ has

well-developed rictal bristles, _Rhamphocaenus_ has the nostrils in a

groove and partly covered by a membrane.

The sexes are similar, and mainly reddish-brown, in _Rhamphocaenus_,

_Phlogopsis_, and the Grallariinae; but generally the males are black and

white, black, grey and brown, or uniform black; and the females

ferruginous, more or less relieved by black and white. Cross-bars, spots,

and striations are not uncommon, the white often shewing as a band on the

tail, an edging to the wing-coverts, or exceptionally, as in _Pygoptila

margaritata_, as {489}round spots on both wing and tail; while the

yellowish lower parts of _Myrmotherula pygmaea_, _Herpsilochmus

rufimarginatus_ and three species of _Terenura_ exhibit the brightest tints

found in the Family. Black or dark-hued caps are not infrequent; crests

occur in _Batara_, _Pithys_, and many members of _Thamnophilus_; the

rump-feathers are often dense and elongated, as in _Thamnistes_,

_Pygoptila_, _Chamaeza_, _Cercomacra_, and _Thamnomanes_; those of the

flanks are much developed in _Thamnocharis_; those of the lores are short

and erect in _Pyriglena_. Bare red or bluish orbits are found occasionally;

_Gymnocichla_ has most of the head naked and blue; and the irides may be

red, white, or brown. _Batara_ is quite fourteen inches long, _Myrmotherula

pygmaea_ about three.

The usually shy and retiring Formicariidae either skulk among dense

undergrowth in hot tropical forests, or frequent more cultivated districts;

they creep about silently, singly or in pairs, seeking spiders, insects and

their larvae, on the twigs and foliage of trees, or on parasitical plants

or grasses; while they habitually keep near the ground, though sometimes

joining flocks of other birds in their higher flights. Many carefully

search the lower surface of the leaves for food with the head downwards,

and occasionally eat seeds. The Grallariinae appear to be entirely, and the

Formicariinae to a great extent terrestrial, hops being the characteristic

mode of progress; the tail is commonly carried erect or in motion, as in

the case of _Formicarius_, and is often much abraded by the thorny

thickets. _Thamnophilus albinuchalis_ and some other species choose dry

situations, but generally the vicinity of water is preferred. The ordinary

note in the Family is deep and powerful, and is said to have the effect of

ventriloquism; it consists of monotonously repeated sounds, like ke-ke-ke

or ko-ko-ko, varied by more rasping tones or trills. The nest, a slight

shallow structure, generally hung from the lower twigs of a tree or bush,

is composed of straws, fibres, roots, and hair, or occasionally of leaves,

moss, and wool; it contains two or three white, bluish, or rufous-brown

eggs, usually spotted, streaked, or zigzagged with red-brown, but more

rarely with grey.

Fam. XI. CONOPOPHAGIDAE.–These curious birds, and their equally remarkable

allies the _Pteroptochidae_, differ from all other Passeres in having two

incisions posteriorly on each side of the sternum. The _Conopophagidae_,

extending from Colombia to Bolivia and Brazil, include the genus

_Conopophaga_, and probably {490}_Corythopis_. The head is large, the bill

depressed in the first-named, longer and more compressed in the last; the

exaspidean metatarsus (p. 473) is thick and long in the one, with broad

curved hind-claw, but is thinner, with straighter and weaker hallux, in the

other. The outer and middle toes are basally connected. The wings are

moderate and rounded, as in the next Family; the tail is very short in

_Conopophaga_, which has long, lax rump-feathers. The general coloration is

brown, with a white mark behind the eye in the last-named genus; the head

may be black, or chestnut with black sides; the throat black; the breast

banded with chestnut, black or grey; or the central abdomen white.

_Corythopis_ has black striations below.

Fam. XII. PTEROPTOCHIDAE.–This group ranges from Costa Rica to Patagonia,

occurring up to an altitude of nine or ten thousand feet. The bill is

comparatively long and thin in _Scytalopus_ and _Merulaxis_, stronger in

_Liosceles_, _Pteroptochus_, _Hylactes_, and _Rhinocrypta_, being much

arched in the last-named; the culmen expands into a peculiar oval plate in

_Acropternis_ and _Triptorhinus_; while a membrane partially covers the

nostrils. The taxaspidean metatarsus (p. 471) is generally elongated and

strong, with long claws, the hallux being long and incurved in _Hylactes_,

and similar but straighter in _Acropternis_; the whole foot is shorter in

_Rhinocrypta_, more slender in _Pteroptochus_, while the scutes are fused

in front in _Liosceles_. The short, rounded wings have ten primaries and

eight secondaries; the tail varies in length, and may be graduated, as in

_Merulaxis_ and _Acropternis_, or short and more even, as in

_Triptorhinus_. _Hylactes_ has fourteen rectrices in place of twelve. The

colour is blackish, dark grey, or brown, often barred or scalloped with

black; the crown, rump, breast, or belly are at times chestnut or rufous,

the lower parts varied with white, or even banded with orange. _Merulaxis_

has long, stiff loral plumes, _Rhinocrypta lanceolata_ a crest, and several

forms elongated rump-feathers. In _Acropternis_ the back and abdomen are

ocellated with white. The sexes are nearly similar.

These peculiar birds are commonly shy and retiring, hopping actively about

with erect tails, or running like mice, but rarely flying, except between

the boughs and the ground. They are decidedly difficult of observation,

though they follow up the pedestrian under cover, betraying their position

by their scolding cries. Many species, such as _Hylactes tarnii_, the

"Guid-guid," _Pteroptochus rubecula_, the "Cheu-can," and _Triptorhinus

paradoxus_, the {491}"Cheu-gui," inhabit damp, gloomy forests; others often

frequent dry plains, or stony and bushy hill-sides, as _H. megapodius_, "El

Turco," and _P. albicollis_, the "Tapaculo"; while _Scytalopus

magellanicus_ prefers thick woods, but also haunts grass-lands in the

Falkland Islands. _Rhinocrypta lanceolata_, the "Gallito," or Little Cock,

lives in thickets and hedges, and struts in the open like a Fowl. The food,

chiefly obtained upon the ground, consists of insects, seeds, and buds. The

noisy and generally harsh notes vary considerably, _Hylactes tarnii_

yelping like a dog, _Pteroptochus albicollis_ sometimes uttering a sound

like a coo, _Triptorhinus paradoxus_ a reiterated frog-like croak,

_Rhinocrypta lanceolata_ a hollow chirrup or a scolding cry. The nest,

commonly situated near the ground, is said in some cases to be made of

sticks; _Rhinocrypta_ forms a domed structure of grass in a bush, and lays

four eggs; _Scytalopus magellanicus_ is recorded as using a mass of moss

upon a bank to contain its set of two; _Hylactes_ and _Pteroptochus_ are

reported to nest in burrows. The eggs are white, at least in the first

three.

2. PASSERES DIACROMYODAE.

C. _Suboscines._

This group contains only the two Families _Menuridae_ (Lyre-birds) and

_Atrichornithidae_ (Scrub-birds), each with one genus, _Menura_ and

_Atrichornis_ respectively. The former possesses three pairs of vocal

muscles, the latter only two pairs;[278] _Menura_, moreover, has a

peculiarly long sternum, constricted towards the middle, while

_Atrichornis_ has but rudimentary clavicles, being thus unique among the

Passerine forms.

Fam. I. MENURIDAE.–Lyre-birds have a stout bill; very long and powerful

metatarsi, with robust elongated straight claws; and somewhat short rounded

wings, with eleven primaries and ten secondaries. The tail has sixteen

rectrices, and in the males of two species has the exterior pair of

feathers curved like a lyre, with very narrow outer and very broad inner

webs; the next six pairs have very distant barbs and no barbules, except

towards the base; while the two median plumes have narrow inner and no

outer webs, and after crossing below, curve boldly outwards. The tongue is

sagittate, the furcula U-shaped, the after-shaft rudimentary; the adults

have no down. _M. superba_ of New South Wales and South Queensland, some

thirty-three inches long, is {492}dull brown, with a slaty tinge above, and

more rufous throat, wings, and tail-coverts; while the outer rectrices

exhibit regular notch-like transparent or blackish markings on the chestnut

inner webs, caused by the absence of barbules. The naked orbits are bluish

or lead-coloured. The female has a long, broad, normal tail, the median

feathers exceeding the rest. _M. victoriae_, of Victoria, is darker, with

more boldly marked outer rectrices. _M. alberti_, of Queensland, and the

Richmond and Clarence River districts of New South Wales, is redder above,

and has the tail less lyrate, the outer feathers being shorter, with no

transparent notches.

[Illustration: FIG. 106.–Lyre-Bird. _Menura superba._ × ⅒.]

{493}Lyre-birds haunt precipitous sandy gullies in thick forests with

tangled undergrowth, whether inland or near the coast; and, though able to

fly, live chiefly upon the ground, whence they leap, when scared, to

branches even ten feet high. They run with the tail horizontal, and scratch

among fallen leaves for insects–especially coleoptera–myriapods, worms, and

molluscs; the solitary individuals or pairs which are usually observed

being particularly shy. Each cock has a walk or playground, and scrapes

little hillocks or hollows for dancing places, where he struts or

pirouettes with erect tail and drooping wings, scratching, pecking, and

singing at intervals. Apparently, however, he is not polygamous. The normal

cry is a loud, liquid, gurgling sound; but the Pheasants, as the Colonists

term them, are clever mockers, imitating a cock's crow, a hen's cackle, a

dog's bark or howl, the Laughing Jackass's note, or even the setting of a

saw. The tail-feathers are said to be shed after breeding, and to be fully

developed only by the fourth year, when males begin to sing. The oval,

domed nests, placed on ledges of cliffs, on tops of old stumps, in forks of

trees, or by fallen logs, are loose bulky masses of sticks, bark, grass,

leaves, ferns, and moss, lined with roots and the bird's feathers. The one

large egg has a stone-grey, brown, or dark purple ground-colour, blotched,

dotted, and streaked with purplish or blackish-brown. The chicks are said

to be covered with black down in _M. victoriae_, white in _M. alberti_, and

brownish in _M. superba_; and to remain six weeks in the nest. The hen sits

with her tail curled sideways or forwards. The flesh is dark, tough, and

unpalatable.

Fam. II. ATRICHORNITHIDAE.–_Atrichornis_ has a large bill; moderate

scutellated metatarsi; extremely short wings with eleven primaries, the

outer of which is very small, and some eight secondaries; and a long,

broad, graduated tail with twelve rectrices. The tongue is sagittate, the

aftershaft rudimentary, and no down is present on adults. _A. clamosa_ of

Western Australia, about eight and a half inches in length, is brown above,

barred with dusky, and reddish-white below, with a black pectoral patch;

_A. rufescens_ of New South Wales has the lower parts like the upper. The

females appear to be unknown. These very shy birds haunt dense scrub, or

grassy and bushy tracts, being very difficult of observation; they mimic

the notes of other species cleverly, and also utter a peculiar noisy cry.

They scratch in the ground, probably for insect-food.

{494}D. _Oscines._

Of this group, or the true singing birds, the anatomy is even less worked

out than that of the _Suboscines_, and consequently the relationships are

in many cases extremely doubtful. The _Hirundinidae_ stand distinctly

apart, with no other Families near them, though some similarity of habits,

and possibly of structure, may be recognised in certain _Muscicapidae_

(especially if _Artamus_ be included among them), and to a less extent in a

few _Sturnidae_; yet almost as much resemblance may be perceived in some

_Tyrannidae_, which (not being Oscinine) can have no affinity to the

_Hirundinidae_. The likeness is therefore probably one of analogy only,

and, if so, of no taxonomic value. Here again it must be stated that the

_Oscines_ hardly attain more than the rank of a Family, and that in the

Passeriformes the Families have not the same value as in the foregoing

Orders.

The _Alaudidae_ are generally recognisable by the casing of their metatarsi

(p. 496), but in other respects they seem to shew an affinity to the

_Motacillidae_ (_Anthinae_) on the one hand, and to the _Fringillidae_ on

the other. The wing-characters, on which reliance was formerly placed,

prove to be wholly untrustworthy.

As to the rest of the "Families" of _Oscines_, it is impossible to indicate

their probable relations by placing them in sequence, or even at present to

group more than a few of them with any degree of assurance. Some have not

yet been defined at all, and few of them sufficiently for anyone to be

confident as to their limits. Thus in the _Muscicapidae_ hardly any two

systematic ornithologists will agree as to which genera should be included

and which excluded. If restricted to Old World forms, there is still no

defined boundary between them and the _Campephagidae_, while there is

perhaps even less distinction between them and the _Sylviidae_ (or

_Sylviinae_, if these last be included among the _Turdidae_). Moreover, by

some taxonomers the _Mniotiltidae_ have been referred to the

_Muscicapidae_, and though there is an obvious distinction between them in

the number of the primaries, the instance of the _Alaudidae_ (already

mentioned) shews that this may be of very slight importance.

Some other "Families" may perhaps be grouped with less risk of error. The

_Troglodytidae_, _Certhiidae_, _Sittidae_ and _Paridae_ are possibly such;

but the limits of the last-named are {495}certainly not laid down, and it

would be hard to give a good reason either for admitting or refusing to

admit into it genera like _Liothrix_ or _Chamaea_, while the puzzle is

still greater in regard to some forms from Australia and New Zealand.

The two latest writers on the subject, Dr. Gadow and Professor Newton,

abstain from offering any scheme of Classification of the _Oscines_, the

latter limiting himself to the declaration, already expressed by the late

W. K. Parker, that the Corvidae should stand as the highest group. As

regards their predecessors it will be enough here to enumerate the

"Families" in the order in which they were arranged by Dr. Stejneger[279]

in 1885, and Dr. Sharpe[280] in 1891; the scheme of the last author,

however, being reversed to harmonize with the plan of the present volume,

in which the lower groups are assigned priority. The _order_ of Dr.

Stejneger, which is based on both anatomy and morphology, is that

subsequently followed, but his Families are not invariably adhered to.

DR. STEJNEGER. DR SHARPE.

_Alaudidae._ _Hirundinidae._

_Motacillidae._ _Muscicapidae._

_[H]Enicuridae._ _Campophagidae._

_Timaliidae._ _Pycnonotidae._

_Leiotrichidae._ _Timeliidae._

_Muscicapidae._ _Mimidae._

_Turdidae._ _Troglodytidae._

_Cinclidae._ _Cinclidae._

_Troglodytidae._ _Turdidae._

_Chamaeidae?_ _Sylviidae._

_Mimidae?_ _Vireonidae._

_Hirundinidae._ _Ampelidae._

_Campephagidae._ _Artamidae._

_Dicruridae._ _Laniidae._

_Ampelidae._ _Regulidae._

_Artamidae?_ _Paridae._

_Laniidae._ _Zosteropidae._

_Vireonidae?_ _Dicaeidae._

_Paridae._ _Nectariniidae._

_Oriolidae._ _Meliphagidae._

_Paradiseidae._ _Certhiidae._

_Corvidae._ _Mniotiltidae._

_Sturnidae._ _Motacillidae._

_Meliphagidae._ _Alaudidae._

_Nectariniidae._ _Fringillidae._

_Dicaeidae._ _Coerebidae._

_Certhiidae._ _Tanagridae._ {496}

_Coerebidae._ _Ploceidae._

_Mniotiltidae._ _Icteridae._

_Tanagridae._ _Oriolidae._

_Ploceidae._ _Dicruridae._

_Icteridae._ _Eurycerotidae._

_Fringillidae._ _Eulabetidae._

_Sturnidae._

_Ptilonorhynchidae._

_Paradiseidae._

_Corvidae._

As regards structure, the _Oscines_ have one posterior incision or fenestra

on each side of the sternum; the furcula is U-shaped; the tongue is

variable, as is the syrinx (pp. 13, 21, 22, 467); the nostrils may be

pervious or impervious; an after-shaft is nearly always present, though

comparatively weak; down occurs sparingly on the blind young, and is

absent, or only found on the unfeathered spaces, in adults. The primaries

number ten or eleven; the secondaries nineteen, twenty, or even more; the

rectrices normally twelve. The form of the bill, wings, and tail are

discussed under the different Families; the metatarsus exceptionally is

smooth in front, but is ordinarily scutellated, while behind it is smooth

and generally compressed, except in the Alaudidae, which, having it

scutellated posteriorly, are termed scutelliplantar, as opposed to

laminiplantar (with one horny growth behind). The hallux is the strongest

toe.

Of fossil forms of Oscines, Osteornis (_Protornis_) of the Lower Eocene of

Glarus in Switzerland may be Passerine; _Palaegithalus_ (Sylviinae) and

_Laurillardia_ (Sturnidae) have been found in the French Upper Eocene;

_Palaeospiza_ (Fringillidae) in the Oligocene of Colorado; _Motacilla_,

_Turdus_, _Lanius_, _Corvus_, _Fringilla_, and _Loxia_ in the French

Miocene or in the Breccia of Italy; _Scolephagus_ and _Corvus_ in the

Pliocene of Oregon; _Palaeocorax_ in the Chatham Islands; an extinct

_Foudia_ (Fringillidae) in Réunion.

Fam. I. ALAUDIDAE.–The Larks inhabit the Palaearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian

Regions, only one genus (_Otocorys_), with many races, being found in

America, and one (_Mirafra_) in the Australian Region. Of the former, _O.

peregrina_, occurs as far south as Bogota, while the latter is found in

Australia and Flores. _M. hova_ is peculiar to Madagascar, _M. javanica_ to

Borneo and Java, _Spizilauda_ deva to India. _Alauda arvensis_, the

Sky-Lark, and _Lullula arborea_, the Wood-Lark, alone breed in Britain: but

_Otocorys alpestris_, the Shore-Lark, is a regular winter-visitor {497}to

our shores; while _Galerita cristata_, the Crested Lark, _Calandrella

brachydactyla_, the Short-toed Lark, and _Melanocorypha sibirica_, the

White-winged Lark, occur occasionally. The Sky-Lark has been introduced

into Long Island, N.Y., Australia, and New Zealand.

[Illustration: FIG. 107.–Sky-Lark. _Alauda arvensis._ × ½.]

The bill is long and curved in _Certhilauda_ and _Alaemon_, shorter and

slender in _Alauda_, similar but more robust in _Galerita_, abbreviated and

conical in _Calandrella_, _Pyrrhulauda_, and _Melanocorypha_, and

extraordinarily stout in _Rhamphocorys_, with a gap between the maxilla and

mandible. The metatarsus is elongated, and may be more slender as in

_Certhilauda_, or stouter as in _Galerita_ and _Melanocorypha_; the

hind-claw is generally much lengthened and straight, but may be short and

curved, as in _Calandrella_, _Pyrrhulauda_, and _Alaemon_. The wing varies

much in length, many forms having the outer primary almost aborted, though

in _Mirafra_ and elsewhere it is of fair size; the inner secondaries are

nearly as long as the primaries in _Calandrella_. The tail is moderate or

short, and may be rounded, nearly square, or emarginate. The normal

coloration is light-brown with darker longitudinal streaks, the under parts

being whitish and frequently spotted anteriorly; desert forms, however,

often have uniform pale buff or rufous plumage–for example, _Galerita

isabellina_ and _Ammomanes_. _Melanocorypha yeltoniensis_ is nearly black

in the male; others of the same genus have a black gorget; the

black-cheeked _Rhamphocorys_, _Alaemon alaudipes_ and _Melanocorypha

sibirica_ exhibit white wing-patches; while _Otocorys_ has a projecting

black tuft on each side of the occiput, black cheeks, lores, and bands on

the crown and breast, the {498}rest of the face and throat, or even the

lower parts, being yellowish. _Tephrocorys cinerea_ and _Mirafra apiata_

have a rufous crown and breast respectively. _Pyrrhulauda_ is chiefly black

below, and varies above from grey to chestnut, relieved by black and white.

Ordinarily the sexes in Larks are similar. Crests are not uncommon.

_Certhilauda_, _Alaemon_, and _Ammomanes_ inhabit deserts or arid plains,

_Alaudula raytal_ frequents sandy islets, and _Otocorys_ often selects

uplands; but most forms only require open country, being chiefly

ground-birds and seldom found near woods. _Lullula_, however, loves heaths

and the outskirts of copses, and _Mirafra_ bushy spots. Larks often flock

together, and are not usually shy, since they will even enter villages; the

desert species are particularly quick runners, while the flight is

exceptionally weak in _Ammomanes_, _Calandrella_, and some others, though

as a rule sufficiently strong. Perching is not an uncommon habit, _Lullula_

and _Mirafra_ habitually settle on trees or tall bushes, and several forms

squat to avoid detection. In general dusting takes the place of washing.

The food consists of insects and their larvae, seeds, worms, small

molluscs, crustaceans, or even berries. Most Larks soar while uttering

their pleasing trills, and plaintive calls are often heard; _Lullula_ has a

more flute-like song, _Pyrrhulauda_ utters a shrill chirp. _Galerita

cristata_ and _Melanocorypha calandra_ imitate other birds successfully

when caged. The cup-shaped nest of bents, lined with finer grasses, fibres,

or hair, is placed in herbage or in some depression in the soil–wool,

cotton, rags, or even sticks being exceptionally added; but two or three

species of _Mirafra_ build a domed structure, occasionally placed on bare

rocks or roofs of houses. The eggs are generally whitish, closely spotted

or zoned with purplish-grey or brown; some specimens, however, are thickly

freckled with yellowish or marked with reddish. The number varies from two

in _Pyrrhulauda_, and about three in _Ammomanes_, to five, six, or even

seven. Both sexes incubate in some cases, while two or more broods are

often reared in the season. Thousands of Sky-Larks are netted annually for

the table.

Fam. II. MOTACILLIDAE.–This group comprises the Sub-families

_Motacillinae_, or Wagtails, and _Anthinae_ or Pipits. The bill is thin and

more or less elongated, with a slight notch, the culmen being decidedly

curved in _Oreocorys_. The metatarsus is very long in Wagtails, variable

but shorter in Pipits; it is usually slender, with the hind claw well

developed and slightly {499}curved; though it is stout, with very long

hallux, in _Macronyx_, _Xanthocorys_, and _Neocorys_. The wing is commonly

elongated and pointed, with the inner secondaries reaching nearly to the

end of the primaries, but it is shorter and more rounded in some species of

_Anthus_. The tail is very long in Wagtails, but moderate in Pipits, being

generally somewhat emarginate.

Wagtails range over the Old World, but are lacking in Australia and

Polynesia; two species extend to the extreme north-west of America, one is

accidental in Greenland, and one is restricted to Madagascar. Pipits are

almost cosmopolitan, though not found in Polynesia; only two forms,

however, inhabit North America, while one is peculiar to New Zealand, and

another to Australia; _Anthus bogotensis_ is exclusively Andean, _A.

antarcticus_ occurs in South Georgia, _A. bertheloti_ occupies Madeira and

the Canaries.

[Illustration: FIG. 108.–Yellow Wagtail. _Motacilla raii._ × ⅜. (From

_Natural History of Selborne_.)]

Wagtails are generally black and white, grey and white, grey with yellow

breast (or even head), greenish with yellow lower {500}parts and greyish or

black heads, or almost entirely yellowish. Most Pipits are brown above,

with dark streaks, and light edges to the feathers, and are buff, whitish,

or rufous below, with triangular brown spots. The outer rectrices are

usually more or less white, as are sometimes part of the others.

_Limonidromus_, however, is an olive-brown Wagtail with two black

crescentic marks below, _Anthus chloris_ a Pipit with a yellow patch on the

breast. _A. rosaceus_ has yellow axillaries; _A. tenellus_, has the wings,

tail, cheeks, and under surface chiefly yellow, with a black pectoral band.

The curious genus _Macronyx_, to its mainly brown coloration adds orange,

yellow, or pink lower parts with a black gorget, while it shews a

marvellous resemblance in other respects to _Sturnella_ (p. 580)–_M.

crocea_ to _S. magna_, _M. ameliae_ to _S. defilippii_. The bill and feet

are usually black in Wagtails; the former is brown, with paler mandible and

yellowish gape in Pipits, where the feet are brown, yellowish, or reddish.

The females are duller, and in the Motacillinae the young are usually

browner.

Wagtails frequent streams and stagnant waters, as in the case of the Pied,

White, and Grey Wagtails, _Motacilla lugubris_, _M. alba_, and _M.

melanope_; or they haunt fields of corn and meadows, as in the Blue-headed

and Yellow Wagtails, _M. flava_ and _M. raii_. All the above breed in

Britain, but the White and Blue-headed species rarely. The Grey and the

Yellow Wagtails both have yellow breasts, but the former has a grey, the

latter an olive, back.

Pipits prefer open places with rough herbage, as for instance the

Meadow-Pipit, _Anthus pratensis_; rocky shores, as the Rock-Pipit, _A.

obscurus_; or open parts of woods and banks, as the Tree-Pipit, _A.

trivialis_. These nest commonly with us, while the Red-throated Pipit, _A.

cervinus_, the Tawny Pipit, _A. campestris_, Richard's Pipit, _A.

richardi_, and the Water-Pipit, _A. spipoletta_, visit us occasionally.

Flocks are rarely seen, but a few individuals often congregate on the

sea-beaches in winter; the flight is easy, though jerky, and not

protracted; that of Wagtails being distinctly undulating. _Neocorys_ soars

like a Sky-Lark, and the Tree-Pipit in particular hovers above his perch

while singing. The songs of the last-named, and of _Motacilla vidua_ are

more Finch-like; that of _Neocorys_ Lark-like; those of other species

shrill, and less frequent than their repeated call- or alarm-note of

chit-chit (Pipits) or chis-sic (Wagtails). The food consists of seeds,

insects, worms, small molluscs and crustaceans, usually procured upon the

ground, {501}Wagtails hunting for flies round cattle, and being very

commonly seen wading. Pipits make their nests almost entirely of grass,

_Anthus correndera_ and _A. rufulus_ occasionally adding an overarching

cover; Wagtails use moss, grass, and roots, with a bedding of hair and

feathers. The four to six eggs are bluish white or brownish, with grey,

blackish, or brown spots in the Pied Wagtail and its similarly coloured

allies, yellowish-white with yellowish and greenish-brown markings in

others of the Sub-family; in Pipits they are commonly greyish or

yellowish-white with brown and grey mottlings, sometimes covering the whole

shell; while in the Tree-Pipit they vary from grey with dark brown spots

and streaks to reddish-white, with rich brown, claret-colour, or bright red

markings or close frecklings. A black line or two is a common feature

throughout the Family. Wagtails choose for nesting sites ledges of rocks,

crevices, holes in trees or walls, tops of pollarded willows, stony banks,

or–in the Yellow Wagtail group–hollows in the soil among herbage. Pipits

prefer the ground, or even spots shaded by trees, as in the Tree-Pipit.

Fam. III. HENICURIDAE.–The Fork-tails, a group of doubtful affinity,

generally placed near the Motacillidae, extend from the Himalayas and the

hills of South and West China to Burma and the Great Sunda Islands, one of

the species–some dozen in number–reaching Samarcand westwards. They are

black and white birds, with stout, straight, and usually elongated bills,

long, strong metatarsi without scutellation, moderate rounded wings,

extraordinarily long forked and graduated tails–except in _Henicurus

scouleri_, where the shape is square and the feathers short–and

well-developed rictal bristles. The outer pair of rectrices are white. _H.

ruficapilla_ has an orange-chestnut crown and hind neck, nearly the whole

back being chestnut in the female; that sex of _H. velatus_ has a brown

head; two species have the upper parts spotted with white, and two the back

slate-coloured. Several of them have crests. The bill is black, the feet

whitish. These active unsuspicious birds haunt forest-streams or

hill-torrents, and hunt for molluscs, insects and their larvae, near or in

the water. They often wag the tail when perched on stones or branches. The

large nest is formed of fibres, roots, and moss, and is placed on rocks or

tree-stumps; the three or four eggs are greenish-white, with scattered

brownish spots.

Fam. IV. TIMELIIDAE.–In this Old World assemblage are {502}included by Dr.

Sharpe[281] many genera rather referable to the Turdidae, Pycnonotidae,

Troglodytidae, and Paradiseidae; but the Family may be taken to contain

most of that author's _Crateropodes_ and _Timeliae_,[282] the Tit-like

_Liotriches_, and perhaps _Clitonyx_, _Chaetobias_, and _Myiophoneus_. The

whole question, however, is very doubtful, and no decision can yet be

arrived at. The supposed diagnostic points are the rounded wings curved to

fit the body, the lax, soft plumage, the comparatively large outer primary,

the similarity of the unspotted females and young, and the Thrush-like

bill. This bill, however, may be very strong and hooked, as in

_Myiophoneus_ and _Gampsorhynchus_; stout, deep, and wide, with festooned

maxilla, as in _Paradoxornis_; similar but smaller, as in _Chleuasicus_ and

_Suthora_; short and blunt, as in several of the _Liotriches_; extremely

elongated, slender and decurved, as in _Pomatorhinus_; or extraordinarily

so, as in _Xiphorhamphus_. It is not infrequently notched. The metatarsi

are typically strong or even clumsy, and vary considerably in length; in

_Liothrix_, however, they are slender; while _Cholornis_ has only two

anterior toes (p. 10). The tail, often broad and much graduated, may be

very long, as in _Sibia_, or no longer than the upper coverts, as in

_Oligura_; the rectrices being obliquely truncated in _Siva_, curved

outwardly in _Liothrix_, and frequently pointed or somewhat spiny.

Elongated rictal bristles are not uncommon; several species have crests,

that of _Grammatoptila_ being exceptionally large; rigid shafts occur in

the head- and mantle-feathers of _Acanthoptila_, on the forehead in

_Dumetia_, _Timelia_, and _Chaetops_; hair-like plumes decorate the back of

_Macronus_; the inner secondaries are much produced in _Cinclorhamphus_;

the cheeks are bare in _Aethocichla_.

The sexes are commonly alike, the plain rufous coloration being often

relieved by black, white, and grey; _Liothrix_ and _Clitonyx_, however,

shew tints of red or yellow; _Myiophoneus_ of purple, blue, and black, and

in some cases maroon; _Brachypteryx_ of indigo. _Hyperergus_ is partly

olive-green, while _Trochalopterum chrysopterum_ and _T. phoeniceum_

exhibit respectively golden and crimson hues, not to mention other

instances.

Many of the forms are found from the Indian Region to New Guinea, New

Caledonia, and New Britain, one reaching Fiji and two New Zealand; others

occur in the Ethiopian countries, whence a species of _Argya_ extends to

Morocco and Tripoli, and {503}a second to Arabia and the Jordan.

_Crossleyia_, _Bernieria_, _Mystacornis_, _Xanthomixis_ and _Oxylabes_ are

peculiar to Madagascar.

[Illustration: FIG. 109.–"Babbling Thrush." _Timelia maculata._ × 5/11.]

Most members of the Family inhabit woods near water with thick undergrowth,

or more rarely stony hills, scrubby gullies, and rocky torrents;

_Cinclorhamphus_ haunts grassy plains; _Crateropus kirki_ prefers reeds.

The majority are decidedly terrestrial, skulking warily among the bushes

and grass, either singly or in small companies, while some are inquisitive

and active. The flight is low, short, undulating, and laboured; but the

birds hop and climb well, bounding over the ground or clinging to the

trees. The Japanese and Chinese "Hill-Robin" (_Liothrix lutea_) and its

allies are more arboreal, as are _Paradoxornis_, _Suthora_, and so forth.

_Orthonyx_ is said to dance like a Lyre-bird (p. 493). Many species scratch

up the soil or dead leaves in search of insects and their larvae, which,

with seeds, constitute the chief food; fruit, however, or even small

reptiles, crabs, worms, and molluscs are occasionally eaten. The tail is

often carried erect; _Cinclosoma_ rises with a whirring noise;

_Cinclorhamphus_ hovers in the air. Several members of the Family are

comparatively silent, _Sittiparus_ and _Alcippe_ twitter, _Stachyridopsis_

utters clear, bell-like tones, _Timelia_ slowly repeated cries,

_Myiophoneus_ a fine whistle; but usually harsh chattering or screaming

noises alternate with chuckles, croaks, clucks, or a laughing chorus.

_Psophodes_ is called the "Coach-whip bird," from its notes ending like the

crack of a whip. The habits of _Clitonyx_ are said to resemble those of the

Meliphagidae. The nest is commonly a rough structure of leaves, moss,

herbage, and the like, often lined with roots, which is placed in low

trees, bushes, reeds, grass, holes in trees, or banks, by _Garrulax_,

_Argya_, and _Turdinus_; in crevices of rocks, by _Chaetops_; or on crags

near torrents, by _Myiophoneus_. It may consist of somewhat softer

{504}materials, frequently bedded with fur, wool, or feathers, as in

_Crateropus_, _Paradoxornis_, and _Trochalopterum_–several pairs of the

last-named occasionally using the same tree; or it may be a domed mass of

grass, leaves, bark, and moss, situated on or near the ground, as in

_Timelia_, _Orthonyx_, _Pomatorhinus_, _Pellorneum_, and _Rhopocichla_.

_Lioptila_ and some of its nearest allies build a mossy cup, adorned with

cobwebs, in high firs or other trees. The eggs of _Crateropus_ and _Argya_

are deep greenish-blue, glossy and spotless; those of _Garrulax_ are

similar, or pale blue or white; those of _Dryonastes_ light blue; those of

_Pomatorhinus_, _Stachyris_, _Orthonyx_, and _Xiphorhamphus_ white; those

of _Paradoxornis_ whitish, with yellow-brown and purple markings. The

ground-colour is frequently greenish-blue, olive, brown, salmon, creamy, or

white, and shews scattered or dense spots, streaks, freckles, blotches, or

even hieroglyphics, of reddish, purplish, chocolate, olive, grey, or

occasionally black. The coloration, however, is by no means constant in

each genus, while the number varies from two to five or six. The Australian

Pomatorhini fashion large domed nests, after the manner of Magpies, of

twigs lined with bark and feathers, and add a spout-like entrance, while

several are commonly found at the ends of the branches of the same tree;

their buff or purplish eggs, clouded with brown and purple, and streaked

with black hair-lines, number from four to ten.

Fam. V. PYCNONOTIDAE.–The Bulbuls, often included among the Timeliidae,

have a fairly long bill, usually somewhat stout and curved, which is

Finch-like in _Spizixus_, very long and thin in _Phyllostrephus_, and so

forth. The maxilla is generally notched, being minutely serrated in

_Andropadus_, and decidedly hooked in _Tricholestes_, _Aethorhynchus_, and

_Trichophoropsis_; while strong or weak rictal bristles are ordinarily

present. The abbreviated metatarsi lack scales in several genera. The wings

are normally short, rounded, and concave–though more pointed in

_Hypsipetes_ and _Irena_ (if these really belong to the Family), _Hemixus_,

_Alcurus_, and _Ixocincla_ or even long in _Tylas_–the secondaries are much

elongated in _Aethorhynchus_. The tail is sometimes square or graduated,

but is commonly rounded, being rarely forked, as in _Hypsipetes_; in

_Irena_ and _Micropus_ the coverts are much lengthened, while they nearly

equal the rectrices in _I. crinigera_. Crests occur frequently, the

constituent feathers in _Alcurus_ being obtuse, in _Criniger_ long and

pointed, in _Otocompsa_ somewhat recurved. {505}Most of the Family are

characterized by long, fluffy rump-plumage and conspicuous nuchal or dorsal

hairs, the latter reaching their highest development in _Tricholestes_. The

feathers hide the nostrils in _Irena_ and _Spizixus_; _Poliolophus_ has a

yellow circumocular wattle, and several species of _Pycnonotus_ possess

fleshy eyelids of black, red, or grey.

The usual coloration is olive-brown, olive-green, or olive-yellow, commonly

with wholly or partially yellow, white, greyish, or even orange, rufous,

and buff under parts; _Hypsipetes perniger_ is entirely black, _Micropus

melanoleucus_ black with white wing-spots, and many species are mottled

with yellowish or white. _Trachycomus_ has a yellow cap of decomposed

bristly feathers; while elsewhere the head or the throat is often more or

less black, brown, chestnut, grey, and rarely yellow or white. The tail and

rump may be rufous, yellow, or orange, occasionally barred with black; and

white or yellow markings frequently adorn the wings. _Otocompsa_ shews

crimson or scarlet ear-tufts, and crimson or yellow under tail-coverts;

certain species of _Pycnonotus_ have the latter scarlet, orange, or yellow;

_Rubigula_ has loose, stiff, scarlet plumage on the throat, and an orange

under surface. _Chloropsis_ is green and yellow, relieved by orange, blue,

purple and black, and exhibits a conspicuous blue, purple, or emerald

shoulder-patch, except in _C. cyanopogon_ and _C. flavipennis_; _Aegithina_

and _Aethorhynchus_ are green, black, and yellow; while _Irena_ (the Fairy

Blue-bird) is either brilliant turquoise, with black wings, tail, and under

parts, or purple-blue, varied by cobalt above, with or without a black

mantle and under surface. The bill and legs range from brown, black, or

plumbeous, to coral red, orange, yellow, or whitish. The sexes are similar,

except in _Aegithina_, _Aethorhynchus_, _Chloropsis_, and _Irena_.

From their headquarters in the Indian and Indo-Malay countries, the

Pycnonotidae extend to China, Hainan, Formosa, and the Moluccas,

_Hypsipetes_ even reaching Japan; they also occupy the whole Ethiopian

Region, with Madagascar and the neighbouring islands. To these latter

_Ixocincla_ and _Tylas_ (p. 533) are peculiar; while _Pycnonotus_,

_Criniger_ and _Xenocichla_ inhabit both of the above Regions, and the

first is found from Morocco to the Cyclades, Rhodes, Cyprus, and Palestine.

Bulbuls are gregarious arboreal birds of feeble flight, rarely seen upon

the ground, where they move with awkward shuffles or short hops. The

majority are sociable, and frequent gardens, {506}orchards, forests, and

low jungles; they feed chiefly upon fruits, including berries and seeds,

but also upon insects, which _Aethorhynchus_, _Aegithina_, and _Chloropsis_

in especial seek among the leaves and branches of the trees. The ordinary

note is a mellow cheerful whistle, becoming a pretty song in such species

as _Pycnonotus haemorrhous_, and _P. xanthopygus_, the Ceylon and Palestine

Nightingales; chattering and chirping sounds are, however, often heard,

while _Criniger_, _Phyllostrephus_ and _Hypsipetes_ habitually utter

reiterated jarring or croaking cries, particularly when roosting in

company. The flimsy, or occasionally bulky, nests of twigs, fibres, grass,

moss, and cobwebs are placed in low trees, bushes, creepers, or

bamboo-clumps; _Aegithina_, _Chloropsis_, and _Irena_ generally laying two

or three white or greenish eggs with brown streaks or spots, and the

remaining forms from two to four, of a pinkish white or salmon colour, with

markings of various reds and purples. The nest of _Iole_ is suspended by

the rim like that of an Oriole. The Perso-Arabic Bulbul of poets is

probably _Daulias hafizi_, a true Nightingale.

Fam. VI. MUSCICAPIDAE.–The Old World Flycatchers are a group of somewhat

vague definition, _Hemipus_ appearing closely allied to the _Laniidae_,

_Cryptolopha_ to the _Sylviinae_, _Lioptilus_ to the _Timeliidae_.

Connexion with the _Turdinae_ is implied by the more or less spotted

plumage of the young, though the metatarsus is usually scutellated

anteriorly. Typically the bill is broad and flat, with stiff rictal and

prominent nasal bristles; it is extremely wide, with the culminal ridge

strongly developed in _Machaerorhynchus_, _Myiagra_, _Bias_, and

_Smithornis_; _Sisura_ has it longer and more slender; _Chelidorhynx_

short, with a pronounced hook; and the diminutive _Smicrornis_

exceptionally small; while many species have it much less robust. The feet,

usually weak, may be stronger, as in _Chloropeta_; the wings, ordinarily

elongated and pointed, and especially so in _Hemichelidon_, are at times

abbreviated and rounded, as in _Niltava_, whereas the secondaries in

_Platystira_ and _Newtonia_ nearly equal the primaries, of which the outer

is very short. The tail is also short in _Diaphorophyia_, but is usually

moderate or long, and frequently much graduated, as in _Rhipidura_

(Fantail), _Elminia_, and _Terpsiphone_, the males of the last having the

two median feathers twice the length of the body. _Terpsiphone_,

_Cyanomyias_, _Bias_, _Trochocercus_, and so forth, have fine crests,

shorter in the female; while fleshy wattles, round or {507}above the eye,

of scarlet, blue, or yellow, are found in _Terpsiphone_, _Zeocephus_,

_Diaphorophyia_, _Platystira_, and _Arses_. The bill is sometimes reddish

or blue, and the inside of the mouth green or yellow, as in certain Birds

of Paradise.

The males of our summer visitors, the Spotted and Pied Flycatchers,

_Muscicapa grisola_ and _M. atricapilla_, are respectively brown with

whitish under parts streaked with dusky, and black and white; the hen-bird

being similar in the former case, but in the latter olive-brown, with the

frontlet, wing-patches, and lower surface buff instead of white. _M._

(_Erythrosterna_) _parva_, which is brown with grey head, and has a

reddish-orange fore-neck that becomes rufous in the female, occurs

accidentally in Britain. _Platystira_ is glossy bluish- or greenish-black

above with white markings, and white beneath with a black pectoral band,

the female having greyer upper parts, and sometimes a maroon chest;

_Erythromyias_ is black and white, with an orange-rufous breast or back;

_Pseudogerygone_ is olive-green, brown, or grey above–dark crimson in _P.

rubra_–with an admixture of black, buff, rufous, yellow, or white, and has

similar or yellow tints below; _Chasiempis_ is brownish, relieved by black,

white, and bay; _Culicicapa_ is greenish-yellow with a bright yellow lower

surface, the head being grey in one species. The hen-bird in these four

genera, where known, resembles the male. That sex of _Niltava_ is blackish

or purplish, varied with rich cobalt, especially on the neck, the under

parts being orange-rufous or purplish-grey; the female is chiefly olive,

often with a blue or lilac neck-patch. _Malurus_ commonly shews a fine

mixture of blue, purple, and velvety-black, with a little brown and white;

one of its members is chiefly brown, but has a blue tail, and a lilac crown

with black centre; a second is vermilion, black and brown above, and black

below; a third has crimson in the place of vermilion; a fourth is

bluish-black and white. The hen-birds are mainly brown, often with a blue,

or even a green, tail. _Piezorhynchus_ has two metallic black species,

while _P. chrysomelas_ is orange-yellow and black; _Metabolus_ is almost

white, with black face and throat; and lastly, _Terpsiphone_ (or

_Tchitrea_), well known on Chinese and Japanese screens and fans, contains

several long-tailed and finely crested white birds, with glossy

greenish-black head and throat, and with black markings on the wings and

tail in _T. paradisi_, the Paradise-Flycatcher. The female is rich bay

above, with similar head, but grey cheeks and throat. In {508}other species

the males are said to be maroon, cinnamon, chestnut, blue-grey, or

glossy-black above. _T. mutata_ of Madagascar may be dimorphic. Nuchal

collars, elongated silky flank-feathers, and spots or stripes below, are

not infrequent in the Family.

[Illustration: FIG. 110.–Paradise Flycatcher. _Terpsiphone paradisi._ × ⅓.]

Flycatchers are common in the Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian Regions;

and several species are Palaearctic, four or five reaching Europe. Most of

them are migratory, the Spotted Flycatcher nesting northwards to Tromsö and

Archangel, the Pied Flycatcher nearly as far. They love wooded districts,

and _Gerygone_ even gloomy forests; while they are usually silent and

solitary, feeding on little but insects, which are habitually caught upon

the wing with an audible snap of the bill, though also procured upon the

boughs or by darting to the ground. The graceful, undulating, or zigzag

flight, and the sudden dash into the air, followed by a quick return to the

perch, are especially characteristic, as is a frequent quivering of the

wings and tail; _Rhipidura motacilloïdes_ is Wagtail-like in habits; while

_Sisura inquieta_, the "Grinder" of Australia, runs along the river-sides,

or hovers like a Kestrel, making a grinding sound in the air, whence it

descends vertically to secure its prey. Other species of _Rhipidura_ pick

flies off cattle, and rise and fall perpendicularly in the air, opening the

fan-shaped tail or tumbling completely over. _Malurus_ runs quickly, or

bounds along with rapid hops. Most Flycatchers are tame, but several are

pugnacious; _Lanioturdus_ is stated to be gregarious; _Parisoma_ creeps

about thick bushes; {509}_Smicrornis_ clings to the branches like a Tit;

_Niltava_ and other forms eat berries and the like in late summer;

_Eopsaltria_ and _Gerygone_ are very fond of insect-larvae. The voice is

usually faint, but is harsh in _Terpsiphone_, _Smithornis_, and _Batis_,

croaking in _Piezorhynchus_ and _Lanioturdus_; _Sisura_ whistles;

_Gerygone_, _Malurus_, and our Pied Flycatcher, have pleasing Redstart-like

songs; while that of _Microeca_, which often soars aloft when singing, is

said to resemble the strain of the Chaffinch. The neat nest, usually formed

of grass, moss, leaves, bark, fibres, or hair, and not infrequently

decorated with lichens or cobwebs, is placed in low forks or cavities of

trees, if not among creepers or outgrowths on banks, _Terpsiphone_

preferring higher situations. _Gerygone_ builds a covered pear-shaped

structure, with or without a protecting porch, of like materials, lined

with fur or feathers, and suspends it in shrubs; _Malurus_ and _Smicrornis_

make rounder fabrics; while that of _Ochromela_ is somewhat similar, but is

composed of grass and ferns, and usually placed in low vegetation. The

eggs, in number from two to six, are greenish- or buffish-white, with red,

brown, or rarely grey, spots and blotches; exceptionally they are uniform

light blue, as in _Muscicapa atricapilla_; white, as in _Chelidorhynx_;

apple-green, green-blue, or whitish, with reddish-brown, yellowish, or

lilac markings, as in _Eopsaltria_; or white, with red or purplish spots,

as in _Malurus_, _Chasiempis_, and _Gerygone_.

Fam. VII. TURDIDAE.–This group is here divided into five Sub-families, (1)

_Turdinae_ or Thrushes and their allies; (2) _Myiodectinae_; (3)

_Sylviinae_ or Warblers; (4) _Polioptilinae_; and (5) _Miminae_ or

Mocking-birds. The first and third of these are often considered separate

Families, but they are so closely connected by the Saxicoline and

Ruticilline forms that they can hardly lay claim to such rank, while the

_Accentorinae_ and _Regulinae_ of certain authors seem unnecessary. The

_Miminae_ shew some affinity to the Wrens (_Troglodytidae_).

Sub-fam. 1. _Turdinae._–In this section the bill is usually rather long and

stout, being notched but hardly curved, with few, if any, basal bristles;

it is somewhat hooked in the so-called genus _Geocichla_–where it is much

lengthened in five species, and abbreviated in _G. princii_; large, broad,

and arched in _Turnagra_ (a doubtful member of the Family); comparatively

short and slender in _Sialia_, _Ruticilla_, _Erithacus_, _Saxicola_, and so

forth; more robust in _Accentor_. The metatarsus is long in _Catharus_,

_Calliope_, and _Notodela_, but {510}is usually moderate, being

particularly strong in _Geocichla_, _Nesocichla_, _Zoothera_, and

_Turnagra_; in _Saxicola_, _Erithacus_, and _Daulias_ it is at once slender

and elongated. Generally the anterior scales are fused together, forming an

ocreated covering (p. 10), but the opposite sometimes occurs, as in

_Accentor_, _Nesocichla_, and _Thamnobia_. Typically the wing is fairly

long and broad, with abbreviated outer primary, the next feather being

emarginated in some species of _Myrmecocichla_; but in Dr. Sharpe's group

Thamnobiae,[283] it is generally abbreviated and more rounded, in _Sialia_

it is pointed. The tail may be long and wide, as in _Turnagra_, or

comparatively short, as in _Monticola_ and _Pratincola_, but is usually of

medium length; it is normally square or rounded, though emarginated in

_Sialia_, and much graduated in _Copsychus_ and _Cittocincla_, while in

_Cossypha natalensis_ it has pointed feathers. _Turdus_ (_Geocichla_)

_varius_, _T. horsfieldi_, and _T. hancii_ have fourteen rectrices.

The coloration is ordinarily plain black or brown, more or less varied with

grey, white, rufous, or chestnut, occasionally in the form of a collar;

many Thrushes, moreover, exhibit the characteristic white breast spotted

with brown. The bill is frequently orange or yellow. As examples of the

genus _Turdus_ we may take our native Blackbird, Mistletoe- and

Song-Thrushes _T. merula_, _T. viscivorus_, and _T. musicus_; our summer

visitor the Ring-Ousel, _T. torquatus_; our winter immigrants the Redwing

and Fieldfare, _T. iliacus_ and _T. pilaris_; the American "Robin," _T.

migratorius_; and the Ground-Thrushes ("_Geocichla_,") with their light

patch under the wing. The sexes are commonly alike, but black or grey males

have usually brownish females. A bushy crest occurs in _Catharus_.

Of some ten Rock-Thrushes (_Monticola_), _M. saxatilis_ occurs

exceptionally in Britain. It has a cobalt and blackish-blue head, neck, and

upper back, a nearly white mid-back, brown remiges, chestnut lateral

rectrices and lower surface. _M. cyanus_ is almost entirely blue. The

browner hens are generally spotted and barred below. _Cochoa viridis_ is

green and black, with blue-green under parts, and blue on the head, tail,

and wings; _C. purpurea_ has the bright colours replaced by purplish-brown

and lavender; _C. azurea_ is mainly rich blue, becoming purple below. The

females are duller. Blue-birds (_Sialia_) are bright blue, often with

chestnut breast or back, the males being the most brilliant; _Grandala

caelicolor_ is indigo, with blackish wings and tail.

{511}[Illustration: FIG. 111.–Mistletoe Thrush. _Turdus viscivorus._ ×

7/11.]

In _Saxicola_ (Wheatear) the rump-region is white, except in some seven

species, where it is entirely or partly chestnut or buff; the plumage

exhibits various combinations of jet black, chestnut, brown, grey, and

white, the black shewing especially upon the breast, quill-feathers,

throat, lores, or ear-coverts. The females may be similar to the males or

browner. _Pratincola rubetra_, our Whinchat, is mottled with brown and buff

above and is buff below, having a superciliary streak and wing-bar of

whitish; _P. rubicola_, the Stonechat, is blacker on the back, and has the

head and throat black, but the breast rufous, while the hen lacks the black

head. Other species have white rumps or tails, and the breast or even most

of the plumage black. _Oreicola_ has three black members with white under

parts; _Myrmecocichla_ eight, which are grey or brown, relieved by black,

white, and buff. The Australian and Pacific Robins (_Petroeca_), of very

doubtful affinity, are blackish or greyish, with scarlet or pink breasts,

and some white above; one having a red head. Our Redstart, _Ruticilla

phoenicurus_, is grey, with brown wings, chestnut breast, rump, and lateral

rectrices, black face and throat; the hen being brownish above and buff

below, with less brilliant chestnut tints. The Black Redstart is dark grey,

with brighter rufous rump and tail, black lower parts, {512}and a white

wing-patch; brown replacing the grey and black in the female. Some species

are blacker above, one has a chestnut back and no black throat, another has

both rump and tail black, and three have blue on the forehead and crown,

one of these again having a white gular mark. _R. moussieri_, linking the

Redstarts to the Chats, is black, with orange-rufous rump, tail, and lower

surface, a white alar spot, and white extending from the forehead to the

face. The Robin,[284] _Erithacus rubecula_, needs no description; the

Persian _E. hyrcanus_ hardly differs; the similar Japanese Robin, _E.

akahige_, has a grey belly; the Corean _E. komadori_ is orange-chestnut

above, black and white beneath. The Blue-throat, _Cyanecula suecica_, is

brown, except for a white superciliary streak, bay tail-coverts, and a

bright blue throat with a central rufous spot, to which succeed black,

white, and rusty bands, and a whitish belly. _C. wolfi_ lacks the gular

spot, _C. leucocyana_ has it white. _Calliope camtschatcensis_, _C.

pectoralis_, and _C. tschebaiewi_, are brown or dark grey, with grey or

black breasts, white abdomens, some black and white on the face, and glossy

scarlet throats. _Daulias luscinia_, our summer visitor the Nightingale,

and the larger eastern _D. philomela_ are russet-brown in both sexes, with

redder rump and tail, and whitish lower parts. _D. hafizi_ of Persia is

intermediate (_cf._ p. 506).

[Illustration: FIG. 112.–Redstart. _Ruticilla phoenicurus._ × ½.]

Our Hedge-sparrow, _Accentor modularis_, is brown streaked with blackish,

and shews bluish-grey on the head, throat, and breast; but the Alpine

Accentor, _A. collaris_, which rarely visits Britain, has a white throat

spotted with black, and flanks mottled with chestnut; while their congeners

exhibit rufous lower parts or pectoral bands, black throats, or whiter

wings and tails. _Ephthianura_ is grey, brown, black and white above, with

the crown, rump, and breast crimson in one species and yellow in two;

{513}of the latter one has a black mark on the breast, as has a fourth form

with a white lower surface.

In the Thamnobiae the sexes are alike, or the females duller. The colour,

as in _Callene_ and _Copsychus_, may be dull blue and cobalt, purplish- or

bluish-black, or bluish-grey, often with white rump; or, as in _Cossypha_

and _Thamnobia_, grey, brown or blackish, with orange-chestnut or rufous

rump, tail, and abdomen. Stripes of black and white often adorn the face,

the ruddy hue occasionally tinges the breast, nape, or wing, while a blue

alar patch or a white head occur exceptionally. _Cittocincla_ is

intermediate in coloration; _Alethe_ is chiefly chestnut or rufescent-olive

above, but grey and white or creamy buff below, with orange crown in two

cases. _Turnagra_ has brown upper parts with reddish tail, and the lower

surface either grey with white throat, or whitish with dusky stripes;

_Cichladusa_ is similar, or has buff under parts, with black spots and

gular crescent. All the above frequently exhibit white on the wings or

tail. _Lamprolia_ is velvety-black, with blue spangles on the head and

neck, and white rump-region; _Tarsiger_ is either blue above, varied with

black, white, olive, or yellow, and with more or less orange below, or

lacks the blue entirely. _Aedonopsis_ and _Phaeornis_ are brown, with grey

and white under parts.

In the Turdinae the young are constantly spotted, as opposed to the

Sylviinae.

Sub-fam. 2. _Myiodectinae._–These birds differ from the _Turdinae_ in their

short, somewhat depressed bills, and strong rictal bristles. _Myiodectes_

and _Cichlopsis_ are in both sexes fairly uniform brown, grey, or blackish,

with a grey lower surface, and occasionally chestnut or orange throat and

belly; one species of the former, however, is cinnamon, with black head and

under parts, and a white band across the cheeks.

Sub-fam. 3. _Sylviinae._–Besides the typical Warblers are here included

most of Dr. Sharpe's groups _Bradypteri_ and _Cisticolae_,[285] but not, of

course, the American "Warblers" (_Mniotiltidae_). They differ from the

Turdinae in being smaller, with the bill usually weak and slender, though

it is very stout in _Rhopophilus_ and _Arundinax_; a few genera shew strong

rictal hairs; while _Regulus_ has the nostrils covered by one or more

peculiar bristly feathers. The metatarsus is sometimes scutellated

anteriorly; the wings are comparatively {514}short and broad. The tail,

which in some twenty genera contains but ten feathers, varies from square

to rounded, being rarely emarginated, but not uncommonly graduated, as in

_Locustella_, _Cisticola_, and elsewhere; it is much lengthened and widened

in _Laticilla_, broad and soft in _Bradypterus_, and so forth. In

_Sphenoeacus_, _Dromaeocercus_, and the still longer-tailed _Stipiturus_

the rectrices are spiny with curiously decomposed webs; in _Orthotomus_ the

median pair are elongated during summer in the male; in _Sylviella_ the

rump-feathers nearly hide the tail itself.

The usual coloration in both sexes is plain greyish or brown, with rufous,

buff, white, or yellowish lower parts, and frequently spots, stripes, and

streaks. Many forms, however, shew more or less black or red hues, often in

the form of a cap; others, as _Cryptolopha_, _Habrornis_, _Tickellia_, and

_Phyllergates_ exhibit brilliant yellows and greens, relieved by grey,

black, chestnut, and white; _Orthotomus_ and some species of _Prinia_,

_Hapalis_, and _Euprinodes_ are hardly duller; while _Phylloscopus_,

_Acanthopneuste_, _Regulus_, _Hypolais_, _Neornis_, and _Acanthiza_ vary

from yellow-green to brown and buff above. _Regulus_, _Phyllergates_, and

certain members of _Cisticola_, have red, orange, or yellow crowns;

_Acanthiza_ has scaly frontal feathers; the male of _Stipiturus_ a blue

throat; _Myiomoira_ is black and white, with a yellow and orange breast in

one case; _Stiphrornis_ has an orange throat in two; _Leptopoecile_ shews a

blue wash on the rump and lower surface.

Sub-fam. 4. _Polioptilinae._–The Gnatcatchers, with the sole genus

_Polioptila_, have very slender bills, moderate rictal bristles, metatarsi

scutellated anteriorly, shortish wings, and graduated tails. They are

blue-grey above, with black rectrices, externally marked with white; and

are greyish or white below. White shews occasionally on the wing, and some

males have black heads.

Sub-fam. 5. _Miminae._–The American Mocking-birds have fairly long bills,

which are little decurved except in _Harporhynchus_, but are frequently

notched, and bristly at the gape. The metatarsi are usually strong and

distinctly scutellated in front, though more slender in _Oreoscoptes_ and

_Melanoptila_, and sometimes quite smooth in the latter and _Galeoscoptes_;

the wings are shortish and rounded, with well-developed outer primary; the

tail is rather long and is generally broad and much graduated, but is

narrower and squarer in _Oreoscoptes_. The usual coloration is dull brown,

rufous, and grey, varied by white on the remiges and rectrices, and by an

occasional {515}black cap or chestnut vent; _Melanoptila_, however, is

uniform purplish- or bluish-black, _Rhodinocincla_ rosy or rufous below in

the male and female respectively, with superciliary streak to match.

_Oreoscoptes_, _Mimus_, _Cichlherminia_, and _Harporhynchus_ often shew

spots beneath and _Donacobius_ dusky bars, _Mimus trifasciatus_ has a dark

chest-band.

The Turdidae occupy the whole globe, being characteristically, though not

invariably, migratory.[286] Of the Turdinae, Thrushes abound in the

Neotropical Region, and–if we include the Ground-Thrushes–are common in the

Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian, but the Palaearctic and Nearctic are

poorly supplied: Chats, Robins, Redstarts, Nightingales, Hedge-sparrows,

and their nearest allies are mainly Palaearctic, Ethiopian, and Indian;

though _Sialia_ reaches America, _Pratincola_ Celebes, and _Petroeca_

Samoa. _Nesocichla_ is restricted to Tristan da Cunha, _Turnagra_ to New

Zealand, _Phaeornis_ to the Sandwich Islands; while Madagascar possesses

peculiar forms both of this Sub-family and of the Sylviinae. The

last-named, however, are chiefly Palaearctic, and visit the southern Old

World in winter; yet two species of _Acrocephalus_ breed in Australia,

_Miro_ and _Myiomoira_ occupy New Zealand, _Tatare_ and _Psamathia_ are

Polynesian, one species of _Phylloscopus_ reaches Alaska, _Regulus_ occurs

thence to Panama, and so forth. The Polioptilinae and Miminae inhabit North

and South America; the Myiodectinae range from the more western United

States to Bolivia and Brazil. Of the last groups several forms are confined

to the Antilles, and of the Miminae three to the Galápagos.

Thrushes inhabit wooded country, and reach an altitude of twenty thousand

feet in some latitudes; they feed chiefly on the ground, where they hop

about scratching or searching for worms, molluscs, and insects. Snails are

habitually cracked on some favourite stone by the Song-Thrush, and fruit is

also eaten. The strong rapid flight is undulating and frequently low, but

flocks cover vast distances on migration; Ground-Thrushes are naturally

more terrestrial and resident, while the solitary Rock-Thrushes haunt stony

hills, rocks, and ruins. This Sub-family comprises some of our very finest

songsters, the Song-Thrush or Mavis vying with the Nightingale, which

gladdens both day and night, and the Blackbird uttering delightfully mellow

notes; but chirping sounds and harsher screams are common. _Phaeornis_

{516}sings prettily. The typical Turdine nest is a massive cup of grass,

cemented with mud and inlaid with finer herbage; but other materials are

constantly added, while mud, dung, or rotten wood constitutes the lining in

the case of the Song-Thrush, and occasionally elsewhere. It is usually

placed in trees or bushes, but not infrequently in cavities in trunks,

walls or rocks, and sometimes on the ground in heather, banks, and so

forth. The eggs may be greenish or bluish with reddish-brown or purplish

spots and streaks, or glossy blue with or without black or brown markings;

Rock-Thrushes have them light blue with faint stains, or pinkish with rusty

freckles, _Turnagra_ whitish with black-brown spots.

As regards the Saxicoline and Ruticilline forms attention should be drawn

to the jerky, flitting flight, the "chacking" alarm-note and the rarer song

of our Wheatear, the similar habits of our Stonechat and Whinchat, not to

mention other allied forms; as well as to the pleasant notes of Redstarts,

Redbreasts, Blue-throats, and Hedge-sparrows, and the common habits of

hopping, flirting the tail, and drooping the wings. The nests of Chats

consist of grass and moss, often lined with hair, feathers, or fur, and are

usually placed in holes of various descriptions, or in rough herbage; the

four to seven blue, greenish, or even whitish eggs being spotted or zoned

with rufous, except in a few instances, such as our Wheatear, where

markings are rare. Deserts and stony or furzy flats are favourite haunts.

_Petroeca_ adds bark, fibres, cobwebs, or lichens, and chooses sites in

forks, or holes in trees and walls; the greenish or buffish eggs being

marked with purplish, brown and grey. _Cyanecula_ and _Nemura_ select

hollows in marshy spots, building with moss, grass, and leaves, like

Robins; but the former, instead of reddish-white eggs with rufous spots,

has them olive-coloured or dull greenish with faint rusty markings, as have

the Nightingales, which place their fabric of oak or beech leaves on the

ground or in low shrubs. _Copsychus_, _Cossypha_, _Catharus_, and

_Thamnobia_ nest as Robins do, in holes in banks, trees, or walls, and have

similar eggs; Redstarts deposit five or six, which are light blue or white

and very rarely spotted, in a structure of grass, moss, roots, hair, and

feathers, placed in cavities of trees or masonry; _Tarsiger_ and _Notodela_

prefer hollows in banks and rocks, and lay blue and salmon-pink eggs

respectively. _Hodgsonius_ and _Larvivora_ also have them blue.

_Chimarrhornis_ and _Rhyacornis_ nidificate like Redstarts, but their eggs

are greenish-white with rufous or yellowish spots; the shy

{517}_Cittocincla_ haunts thick woods, and deposits four oily-green eggs,

with brown and purplish spots and dashes, on a bed of leaves and grass in

holes in trees; the unsuspicious _Sialia_ utilizes cavities in stumps or

buildings, the nest and its contents resembling those of a Redstart. The

breeding habits of the Hedge-Sparrow need no description, and those of the

Alpine Accentor differ little, except that rocky sites are chosen.

In the above section the number of eggs varies from four to seven. The

flight is feeble as compared with that of Thrushes, most species feeding

chiefly upon the ground and being more insectivorous, though Redstarts and

Chats will take insects on the wing.

The habits of the active Sylviinae are much more uniform; they seldom fly

far, except on migration, and a few flit about like Wrens; while _Amytis_,

_Stipiturus_, _Sphenura_, and some species of _Aedon_ run, or hop among the

herbage, with upturned tail. They frequent trees, bushes, long grass or

reeds, seldom flocking as does _Regulus_, and live on insects and their

larvae, small molluscs and fruit, the first-named being either caught in

the air or sought upon the leaves and branches. The song is usually clear

and sweet, though often plaintive, metallic, or whistling; the Willow- and

Wood-Warblers (_Phylloscopus_) trill: the Black-cap and Garden-Warblers

(_Sylvia_) have beautiful songs, as well as grating alarm notes; the

Cataract-bird (_Origma_) runs along rocky water-courses emitting shrill

cries; the Reed- and Sedge-Warblers (_Acrocephalus_), the skulking

_Cettia_, and other marsh- and grass-frequenting forms, utter more or less

jarring sounds, generally from some bush, whence they quickly drop to

cover; while the Grasshopper-Warblers (_Locustella_) have a peculiar

cricket-like note.