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CHAPTER XHL 



Cuneirostral, continued. Woodpecker. Tame one. Wryneck. 

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

 ceous, Poultry Tribe. Pigeons, American. Prodigious Numbers of. 

 Rapid Flight. Employed as Messengers. Mode of Catching. Attach- 

 ment 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. Cassowary and Emu. 



THE Green 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 resting almost entirely upon the tail, 

 the points of the feathers of which are hard and wiry, more 

 like bristles indeed than feathers ; and if examined, these will 

 generally be found much worn at the edges, by being con- 

 stantly rubbed against the rough bark of trees. It is a shy 

 and solitary bird, but nevertheless some species at least can be 

 tamed. 



A clergyman, travelling in Turkey, was performing quaran- 

 tine in a Turkish village, having passed through a district in 

 which the plague was raging. He was confined in a wretched 

 apartment, and had nothing to interest 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 by a singular instinct 

 left the house of the dead, and flew into his room. Its habits 



