293 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Cuneirostral, continued. Woodpecker Tame one. Wryneck 

 Tongue of. Levirostral Light-billed. Parrots. Toucan. 

 Gallinaceous Poultry Tribe. Pigeons, American Prodigious 

 numbers of Rapid flight Employed as Messengers Mode of 

 catching Attachments of. Cocks. Pheasants- Courage of. 

 On breeding Pheasants Box for Feeding. Prized by Ancients. 

 Turkeys, Wild Social Habits of. Partridges, tamed Nests 

 of Various sorts of. Quails Immense Flights of. Bustards. 

 Ostrich Nests of Affection Hunting Strength of. Cas- 

 sowary and Emu. 



THE Woodpecker is, by sound at least, almost as well 

 known as the Cuckoo. Its noisy, merry, laughing cry 

 may often be heard in the neighbourhood of woods, or 

 issuing from some large tree, to the stem of which, if 

 carefully looked for, the bird may be seen clinging, the 

 head thrown a little back, the weight of the body rest- 

 ing almost entirely upon the tail, the feathers of which 

 are hard and wiry, more like bristles indeed than fea- 

 thers; and if examined these will generally be found 

 much worn at the edges, by being constantly rubbed 

 against the rough bark of trees. It is a shy and soli- 

 tary bird, but nevertheless some species at least can be 

 tamed. 



A clergyman, travelling in Turkey, was performing 

 quarantine in a Turkish village, having passed through 

 a district in which the plague was raging. He was con- 

 fined in a wretched apartment, and had nothing to in- 

 terest or amuse him during a tedious imprisonment, 

 everybody keeping at a distance for fear of infection, 

 when one morning while at breakfast, a bird of the 

 Woodpecker species flew in at the window with, to use 

 his own words, " all the familiarity of an old friend," 

 hopping on the table and picking up the crumbs and 

 flies. It had belonged to a young girl just buried, and 



