104 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



white, the secondaries edged externally also; upper tail- 

 coverts white, with dusky bars ; central tail-leathers 

 with 'white inner webs, outer feathers obliquely banded 

 with white, as usual ; nasal plumes Ibuff, with black 

 tips ; top of (head, including eyebrow, and nape black, 

 the feathers of forehead and crown with scarlet tips; 

 the remainder spotted -with white ; hind-neck wlbity- 

 brown, with duSky bars; ear-coverts buffish -brawn. 

 barred with black ; sides of face and neck and under 

 surface dull white, huffish on flanks and thighs ; under 

 wing-coverts buffish-white. a dusky spot near base c?:' 

 primaries ; bill born-black, lower mandible paler at 

 base ; feet leaden -igrey ; i rides greyish -brown. Female 

 differs in having the whole top of head white-spotted, 

 the scarlet tips to the (feathers being absent. Haib., 

 Provinces of Bah.ia and Rio Janeiro, and westward into 

 Paraguay. 



Burmeisiter ("Syetematisdhe 'Uebeirsiicht." II., p. 245) 

 says: "This elegant little (bird inhabits the forests of 

 the coastal region, and is not- rare therein ; its mode 

 of life is entirely that of the Gold crests.* I could not 

 distinguish its voice from that bird. Towards autumn 

 the birds unite into little .companies ; in the summer one 

 only sees it hem in pains. They itihen nest in holes in 

 trees, sometimes quite near to settlements, as Schom- 

 'be'rigk observed." I have discovered nothing more re- 

 specting the wild ilife of this tiny Woodpecker. It was 

 imported in 1860, and reached the Zoological Gardens 

 of Amslterdam, 'but appears not to have come to hand 

 since that date. 



CO LIES (Collides). 



I shall noiw proceed to tlhe Colies. or Mouse-birds, a 

 group of interesting little acrobats having a;!l the toes 

 of the Ifoot directed forwards. In the old days, (before 

 their amaaoimy had been studied, they were supposed ito 

 be Flinches, to some of which the general form of the 

 bill and the crested character of the bead give them a 

 certain resemblance. They are, however, generally 

 regarded as related to the Woodpeckers, Kinglfisihers, 

 and Hornlbills. Mr. Pyaraft, however, beilieves them to 

 come nearer to the Swifts. They are somewhat dull- 

 coloured. .fruit-ea'tittT bird?, ranging; from Abyssinia. 

 southwards to the Cape of Good Hope. They (build 

 more or less cup-shaped or open nests, in which, again, 

 they remind one of some olf the Fringillidce, and the 

 eags, though white, or nearly so. do. not possess tihe 

 highly -polished character of those of Woodpeckers or 

 Kingfk'hers. Tout are dull and cha'lky, like those of the 

 Swifts, which are also dead j white ; they, however, are 

 shorter, and usually flecked and scrawled with rust- 

 red. 



STRIATED OB SPECKLED 'CoLY (Col'm* xfriatus). 



Above ashy -brownish, paler on head, darker on rump, 

 indistinotlv vermiculated. the neck and mantle (being 

 traversed by a few transverse brown lines ; wings and 

 tail not veiimicu'lated ; primaries brown externally to- 

 wards the base ; central tail-feathers a.hy. with brown 

 shafts ; the remainder ashy and white-edged externally. 

 with reddiish-lbrown shafts, and with somewhat 

 rufeiscenit inner webs ; (feathers of crown elongated into 

 a long, loose crest, which is depressed when food is 

 taken ; the head more ashy than the back, pale ashy- 

 brown o<n sides of face and ear-coverts ; forehead and 

 lores 'dull reddish ; throat, breast, and sides of body 

 ashy -brown, with well-defined darker vermiculations ; 



* How this can be, when it nests in holes in trees, I will 

 not pretend to understand'; posedbly its actions may to some 

 extent resemble those of Renulws, but I should have thought they 

 would more nearly approach those of Acredula. 



lower ibreast, flanks, under wing and tail -coverts 

 ouhreous-buff, rufescent on under 'tail-coverts; quill 

 lining and tail below chestnut -buff ; bill with upper 

 mandible (black, the lower bluish-brown ; feet purplish- 

 brawn ; irides dark brown ; orbital skin black.* Female 

 with the crown of the head paler and even more ashy 

 than in the male ; the beak (longer and broader, with 

 more, curved upper mandible. >Haib. . .South Africa, from 

 the Cape to tihe Zambesi. 



Messrs. Stark and iSclater (" Birds of South Africa," 

 Vol. III., pp. 96, 97) observe : "The habits of all Mouse- 

 birds are very similar. They are to be .seen almost in- 

 variably in small parties of from six to twelve indivi- 

 duals ; even when the females are incubating, the males 

 keep together. They affect thick bush, where they 

 climb like Tits, crawling aJbout and placing themselves 

 in all sorts of different attitudes ; in doing this, the 

 whole of the ita.rsus is often applied to the branch, 

 acting like the sole of a foot, and is often much rubbed 

 in consequence. When alarmed, they fly off one afiteir 

 the other, with shont, direct flight, compared by Le 

 Vaillant to. an arrow .shot from a bow. The Mouse- 

 bird feed entirely on fruit, and is generally to_be seen 

 in a garden as soon as figs and loquats, of which it is 

 specially fond, become ripe. During the fruiit season 

 they do a good deal of damage in the western portion 

 of the Colony. At night-time they are stated by Ayres 

 to roost head downwards in small companies. Shelley 

 found a nest ait Pinetown, in Natal, on March 15th, 

 Stark at the same pace on Dec. 18th. In the latter case 

 the nec-t, which was placed at the top of an orange tree, 

 about 15 feet above the ground, was an open one, rest- 

 ling on and surrounded by twigs of tihe bush ; it was 

 rather small, and was loosely built of piece of bark 

 three or four inches long, of the Kaffir tea plant, of a 

 flowering weed, and small twigs : it was lined with 

 r/reri,. narrow fronds and leaves. There were three quite 

 fresh eggs :n the nest, and there were enlarged eggs 

 in the ovary of the female which was secured, 

 clutch is thereifore more than three, (probably five to 

 seven. Tlhe eggs are rough, and were probably origin- 

 ally cbaliky-wibite. but are a good deal stained with 

 dirt. They are ovals, somewhat pointed at the acute 

 end, and measure on an average 0.92 x -^ 2 .- 



" Mr Ayres was the first to notice this bird s habit 

 of lining the nest with fresh leaves, and suggested that 

 perhaps dampness was necessary for incubation." 



Dr F. Kendall (Tfie, Ibis, 1896, p. 174) says that the 

 stomach of a male which he shot contained oval seeds. 

 May not these have been the kernels of some fruit ? 



The late Mr. J. Abrahams first imported several pairs 

 of this species in 1865. but the London Zoological 

 Gardens appear not to have acquired the species until 

 1885, when they purchased a single example. 



Mr Graham Renshaw (The Avicultural Magazine, 

 vSecond Series, Vol. I., pp. 174-177) gives an account ot 

 a specimen in his possession. He tells us that when 

 eating a grape it shifted it from the beak* to the foot, 

 which grasped it in a singular monkey-like manner 

 while the bird proceeded solemnly to make a meal. He 

 fed it upon ants' eggs, mealworms, grapes, apples, and 

 pears, and on one occasion he found it dragging about 

 the dead and partly devoured body of an Avadavat. He 

 says that the bird used to sleep lying prone on a con- 

 venient ledge or shelf, looking as if dead, or at the last 

 gasp. Its note was a weak chirp, but it squarked 

 rapidly when much alarmed. 



* Some examples have the forehead and chin blackened, but 

 whether from fraying of the feathers or staining with fruit is 

 undecided. 



