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CHAPTER XXXV. 



THE SPICE-BIED. 



THIS pretty little bird is about four and a half inches in 

 length, of which the tail measures one inch and a quarter. 

 The head, back, and wings are a bright chesnut brown, which 

 is also the colour of the tail. The feathers on the rump are 

 lighter than those of the back, and are bordered at their free 

 edges by a darker line of brown, which gives a mottled, or 

 undulated appearance to that part. The breast, neck, and sides 

 are white, but each feather is marked with three semicircular 

 bands of black, producing an ocellated effect. The belly and 

 under tail-coverts are yellowish white. The beak is black, 

 and the legs and feet greyish blue. The iris is dark brown. 



The female is rather smaller than the male, lighter in colour, 

 and has considerably more of the undulated markings on the 

 rump. 



These birds have no audible song, but are, nevertheless, 

 most indefatigable warblers; it is quite amusing to watch one 

 of them when pretending to sing: he suddenly starts up from 

 a doze, stands upright on the perch, opens his beak, and 

 ruffles his throat feathers, yet not a sound is heard, save, 

 occasionally when the room is very still, a tiny indistinct 

 murmur, like the distant chirp of a grasshopper, and the 

 buzzing of bees. Then, when the performance has come to an 

 end, the actor and his companions, who had been listening 

 with bent head and evidently attentive ear on either side, all 

 fly off to the seed-pan together. 



Dr. Euss has succeeded in breeding these birds, but so far 

 the achievement remains unique; and yet the Spice-bird is an 

 indefatigable nest builder, piling enormous quantities of bass, 

 fibre, and hay together in a bush, lining the small cavity in 



