INSESSORES. 345 



breed in communities, constructing numerous large and round 

 nests in the same bushes ; in each nest five or six eggs are de 

 posited. It is said these birds sleep suspended from a branch, 

 with their heads downwards, many of them together ; and that 

 when the weather is cold, -as it sometimes is in South Africa, 

 they are found so benumbed in the morning that they may be 

 readily taken, one after another, without their making an effort 

 to escape. The plumage of the Coly, (Colius,) is short, thick, 

 and smooth, with a silky appearance. The feathers of the head 

 are lengthened, forming a long pointed crest, which can be 

 erected at pleasure. The prevailing colors are gray or ashy, 

 from which circumstance, and that of their crawling about trees, 

 they are, at the Cape of Good Hope, called Muys-vb gel, or 

 Mouse- birds. 



The Colies live chiefly on fruits, the buds of trees, and the 

 tender sprouts of vegetables. On account of the mischief which 

 they do in gardens, they are much disliked. They are bad 

 walkers, but expert climbers, clinging to the branches in all sorts 

 of attitudes. Their cry is monotonous, (the wind-pipe, (trachea,) 

 being furnished with but a single pair of vocal muscles.) and 

 that of the largest species is said to resemble the bleating of a 

 lamb. The flesh of the Colies is of a delicate flavor and highly 

 esteemed. It forms the common food of several species of the 

 Birds of Prey. The C. Senegalensis, as its name imports, is a 

 native of West Africa. It has a pearly-gray plumage with 

 greenish reflections ; the forehead is yellow ; the under part of 

 the body ruddy ; and a naked reddish skin surrounds the eye. 



FOURTH FAMILY. CROSS-BILLS. 

 Loxiadce, (Gr. Ao6g, loxos, oblique.) 



The beak of the CROSS-BILLS, (Plate IX. fig. 8,) is of unique 

 form, the mandibles curving to the right and left, and always in 

 opposite directions to each other. In some of these birds the 

 upper mandible is turned to the right, the lower mandible curved 

 to the left ; in others the position of the mandibles is reversed as 

 to their direction. The upper mandible has a limited degree of 

 motion on the head or cranium, the upper jaw bones and the 

 nasal ones being united to the frontal bone by flexible osseous 

 laminse. The lower jaw is remarkably strong, and the muscles 

 by which this and the upper mandible are moved, are large, par- 

 ticularly in the lower jaw, and act with great power in asidewise 

 direction. By this extraordinary bill, these birds are enabled to 

 extract the seeds from pine cones with remarkable facility ; and 



