FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



CHAPTER I. 

 NEW=WORLD STARLINGS {Ideridw). 



Tlie.se birds are a link between the Ploceine Weavers 

 and the Old-World or typical Starlings. Professor 

 Ridgway, however, does not agree with this view of 

 their affinities, but observes: " The ab.'^ence of obvious 

 rictal bristles is the only external character that I am 

 able to discover which will serve to distinguish the 

 IcterlJiT. as a group, from the Friixjillida'." As usual, 

 he makes a great point of the possession of only nine 

 obvious primaries, though I would venture to say that 

 if all the primary-coverte were removed from a series of 

 FrliKjiHida', Ploci-iclcr, and Icliridtr, the tenth primary 

 would be as obvious in one group as another, this little 

 quill being always well marked in Passer and other 

 genera, of the FringiUlda, as well as in every Icterid 

 bird which I have examined, though sliorter than its 

 coverts. 



Ridgwav coiTectly save (" Birds of North and Middle 

 America," Vol. II., p. 172) : " The Icteridie comprise 

 birds of most various ha'bits. Some are strictly arboreal, 

 and if placed ujwn the ground are almost incapable of 

 progression ; others are terrestrial (though more or less 

 frequently alisfhting on trees and sometimes nesting 

 there), and walk upon the ground with the grace and 

 dignity of a Crow or Starling.* !Many inhabit reedy 

 marshes, and these usually nest in large colonies. The 

 Oropendolas (genera Ori/alus, Cli/pirlenis, Zari/nchus, 

 (hpitmistinnps, and Ostlnnps) and Caciques (genera 

 Caricus and' Crisxirulus) also nest in colonies, but in- 

 stead of building an open. cup-.sha|ied nest attached to 

 the upright stems of ai|uatic plants, attach their long, 

 pensile nests to the extremities of branches of tall forest 

 trees. The 'Ameiican Orioles' Igenus 1 clems) also 

 build pensile nests, but, usually at least, are not gre- 

 garious. Munv .--'iiecies are remarkable either for the 

 fulness and ricbness or other remarkable character of 

 their notes, some of them being songsters of hitrh merit, 

 while others utter only the most harsh and discordant 

 sounds. Some genera {Molothrus, CnllnlJiTtis, and Cnssi- 

 di.r) are parasitic, like the European Cuckoo, always 

 laying their eggs in the nests of other birds." He does 

 not mention, at this point, that the Bobolink (which 

 possesses a very Finch-like outline of bill in both sexes) 

 has di.stinct summer .ind winter jilumages, after the 

 fashion of the Whydahs and Weavers among the Plo- 

 reidrr. Some of the glossy Troupials (the American 

 Orarkles) nest occasionally, the Chopi usually, in holes, 

 like our European Starling. 



Meadow Starlings and Marsh=TroupiaIs 



{Agelanidir), 



Bobolink (Dolichonyx ori/zivora). 

 The male in breeding plumage is black, the nape 

 sandy-buff, a patch on the side of the breast, the scapu- 

 lars and rump white, the latter s.hading into pale ash 

 on the lower mantle and u|)per tail-coverts : the outer 

 primaries edged with yellowish-white, the tips of the 

 tail feathers edged' with pale brownish-ash. In the 

 winter plumage it is buffish-brown, mottled and iiroadl.v 

 streaked with black, chiefly on the head and mantle ; 

 wing and tail-feathers blac-kish. with buffish-brown 

 borders, the primaries, however, narrowly edged exter- 



■ I have, however, always considered the nig-gling, uncertain 

 method of walking adopted by Starlings particularly undignified; 

 they never seem to know where they will place the next etep. and 

 are diverted by the veriest trifles. Crows also often indulge in 

 most undignified and ungainly lateral hops. 



naJly with sordid white ; under surface brownish-buff,, 

 with lateral blackish stripes ; centre of abdomen whiter ; 

 beak and feet Ueshy horn-brown ; iris brown. Female 

 very like the male in winter plumage, but smaller ; 

 .vellowish-brown, with blacki.sli markings above ; yel- 

 lowLsh-buif, with blackish streaks on the flanks below ; 

 ner bill is weaker, more trul.y conical (less swollen at the 

 sides) when viewed from above, and of a reddish-brown, 

 colour. Hab. . North and Central America ajid the 

 West Indies, extending .southwards as far as the Argen- 

 tine Republic, whence I imported a male example iu. 

 July, 1893. 



'this bird, in its change of plumage, vaguely resembles 

 the Fire Weavers of Africa, but is larger and altogether- 

 feebler in ctJouring. 



When it first arrives in North America in the spring 

 it wanders about in small flocks, apparently consisting 

 of males only, the females probabl.v being concealed in 

 the herbage. Even when paired these birds appear to 

 be gregarious, many pairs building iu the same meadow. 

 The nest is built on the ground, generally concealed by 

 grass and wild flowers in meadow-land ; it is strongly 

 formed of flexible bents, is shallow, and contains from 

 five to six dull whitish eggs, marked with reddish-brown 

 and lavender spots and blotches. 



Ridgway says that the song of the Bolx>link is " ex- 

 quisitely mu.sical," and Mrs. Olive Thome Miller 

 observes : " Everybody has tried his hand at characteris- 

 ing this bird's incomparable song, but no one has fully 

 expre.ssed it, for words are not capable of it." I am 

 fain to believe that these excellent observers were con- 

 vinced of the truth of what thev wrote, and yet it is 

 hardly conceivable that the same bird should sing de- 

 liciousl.v when at liberty and execrably in captivity ; it 

 is not -St/ with our British birds. 



One of the most popular favourites in North America, 

 the Bobolink vet has little to recommend it as a cage- 

 biixl, being neither gorgeous in plumage nor remarkable 

 in c-aptivity for its vocal acquirements ; the boastedl 

 beautv of its song is, I believe, based upon the patriotic 

 fancv of those who love it — -indeed, it belongs to a group 

 of birds barely equal, as singers, to our English Starling. 



My bird alwa.ys sang as follows : *' 7'oong-f<iong tottJr 

 trrmik," and then went off into a rattling gabble of the 

 most excruciating stopper-screwing, uttered (as Audubon 

 rightly states) " with a volubility that even borders 

 upon the burlesque and the ludicrous." 



The Bobolink, when freshly imported, is not happy in 

 a cage, and is rather nervous, though less so than most 

 of the Meadow Starlings in an aviary; it naturally 

 feeds on seeds of weeds and in.«ects ; in captivity, 

 canary, millet, paddy rice or oats and insects keep it 

 in health. My bird unfortunately died from inflamma- 

 tion of the lungs during its change to summer plumage- 

 in March. 1894. 



Red-breasted Marsh-bird (Lcistes snperciliarh). 

 In its summer plumage it is glossy black, with pale- 

 brown eyebrow strife extending back to the nape ; the- 

 bend of the wing and body below, from the chin to the 

 middle, crimson : the beak black ; the feet horn-brown : 

 the iris brown. In the winter the feathers of the upper- 

 parts are mostly bordered with golden bi-own, but the 

 outer wing-coverts and flank -feathers with ash; all the- 

 feathers of the underparts are hroadly fringed with ash- 

 and the beak becomes paler ; it thus becomes- a little' 

 more like the female, which is pale lirown above, varied 

 with black below, with the breast .stained with red, the 

 flanks and posterior half of abdomen streaked with 

 black ; the tail ashy-brown, barred with black ; bill 

 brown, and more slender than in the male, if viewed in 

 profile. Hab., Brazil, Bolivia, and the Argentine 



