48o NATURAL SCIENCE. ^^.l^^^- 



in the Parrot House, there is a good opportunity of comparing the 

 smaller species of this interesting family with the larger forms to 

 be found in the Eastern Aviary. Their greater activity is especially 

 striking, and they do not seem to object to coming to the ground, 

 where they hop about quite nimbly, in a manner very unlike the 

 clumsy jumps of the Elate Hornbill {Cevatogymna elata) on the other 

 side of the gardens. They are also fond of meal-worms, and it is 

 probable that these small species generally are more insectivorous 

 and less exclusively arboreal in their habits than the larger, a fact 

 not without interest, with regard to the relationships of this family to 

 the Hoopoes. 



Why some birds should hop and others walk when on the ground 

 it is rather difficult to say ; and authors are not always very correct 

 in describing the gait of birds. The more arboreal forms seem, as a 

 rule, to be most given to this mode of progression ; yet parrots walk, 

 and the common sparrow, so much upon the ground, always hops. 

 I particularly noticed, when the Kea [N estoy notahilis) was first brought 

 to the gardens, that it distinctly walked on the floor of its cage, for, 

 from accounts given, this genus would appear to progress by hops 

 assisted by the wings, as may be seen in many birds when they wish 

 to advance rapidly. But in the limits of a cage one could hardly 

 expect to see this action ; since it is not at all unusual to see the same 

 birds advance sometimes by running and sometimes by jumps, when 

 they have space — the Crows and Touracous for example ; and the 

 alternate hop and run of the Thrushes is familiar to everyone. 



That very peculiar form, Struthidea, at present in the Parrot 

 House, is a walker ; and also may be seen to crack canary seed like 

 a finch, a curious action in a bird of its decidedly corvine appearance. 



A comparatively recent addition to the collection in this house is 

 a specimen of the Sulphury Tyrant [Pitangiis sulphuvatits) which seems 

 to display the adaptability of appetite characteristic of birds of this 

 form, a portion of mouse and some butterflies {Pontia) appearing 

 equally acceptable. Frank Finn. 



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