THE ANIMAL LIFP] OF THE GROUP. 305 



in general color is a warm chocolate brown. When a specimen is in liand it 

 will be found that each feather over the back is marked by a narrow white 

 shaft line. All three of these sparrow-like birds feed at certain seasons on the 

 cultivated rice — a fact that has produced much confusion in the popular mind 

 as to .just which species is in reality entitled to be called the rice bird. 



The combined damage that these birds do to the growing grain from the 

 lime the kernels of rice begin to form in the heads luitil the crop is finally 

 harvested, amounts to many thousands of dollars annually. The rice farmers 

 patrol their fields during this season, from early morning luitil sundown, dis- 

 charging "rice guns," shouting and conducting a genei'al crusade against the 

 birds. Many Chinese farmers set up scarecrows, to whicli windmills and noise- 

 making devices are attached, to guard the ripening crop. Others will inge- 

 niously run stout wire supported above the grain on bamboo pules, over an 

 entire field of grain. From these dangle a motley array of old tin cans, 

 clappers and otlier noise-producing junk. The free ends of all of the main 

 wires center at a conveniently-placed elevated platform from which the farmer 

 keeps a sharp lookout for the feathered desfjoilers of his harvest. Just as the 

 flock alights on the drooping heads of grain, the farmer pulls the main wire 

 that runs to the place under attack. The neighborhood resounds with the 

 din, with the result that the intruders fly to some other spot, where tin- same 

 form of repulse is resorted to. In a short time the birds find that they are 

 more seared than hurt by the noise, and become more and more bold, often 

 standing their ground without wavering through the veritable pandemonium. 

 The writer has watched with much interest the development of courage among 

 these uninvited and unwelcome bird guests, and doubts whether much is gained 

 in the long run by this form of warfare, save the satisfaction to the farmer of 

 doing something to protect his crop. 



Chinese Turtle-Dove. 



The Chinese turtle-dove,^ as its name suggests, came originally from 

 China. It is another introduced bird that is abundant in the rice fields, more 

 especially after the crop has been gathered. They then visit the fields in pairs 

 or in small flocks to glean the scattered grain that may be left after the frugal 

 Chinese farmers' wives have gathered in the last straws left lying on the 

 ground by the harvest-men. 



Dove shooting is said to be real sport in Hawaii, and those who indulge in 

 it as such are always anxious for the open season to begin. An expert 

 marksman, in the height of the season, will secure a bag of fifty or sixty birds 

 in a single day. Though the dove is modest and retiring, its mournful call 

 is not an uncommon sound in the city; the flat, loosely-constructed nest in 

 which two white eggs are laid, is occasionally found in the trees and shrubs 

 forming the tropical tangle that often surrounds the Hawaiian home. 



■ Turtur (Hintuiielia) chiiiens 



