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feathers have a peculiar structure, so as to enable the bird 

 to effect this object. Its food during confinement is boiled 

 rice, mixed up with soft egg, together with plantains, and 

 living insects of the grasshopper tribe ; these insects when 

 thrown to him, the bird contrives to catch in its beak with 

 great celerity ; it will eat insects in a living state, but will 

 not touch them when dead. 



' I observed the bird, previously to eating a grasshopper 

 given him in an entire or unmutilated state, place the in- 

 sect upon the perch, keep it firmly fixed with the claws, and 

 divesting it of the legs, wings, &<:., devour it, with the head 

 always placed first. The servant who attends upon him to 

 clean the cage, give him food, See., strips off the legs, wings, 

 &c., of the insects when alive, giving them to the bird as 

 fast as he can devour them. It rarely alights upon the 

 ground, and so proud is the creature of its elegant dress, that 

 it never permits a soil to remain upon it, and it may fre- 

 quently be seen spreading out its wings and feathers, and 

 regarding its splendid self in every direction, to observe 

 whether the whole of its plumage is in an unsullied condi- 

 tion. It does not suffer from the cold weather during the 

 winter season at Macao, though exposing the elegant bird 

 to the bleak northerly wind is always very particularly 

 avoided. Mr. Beale is very desirous of procuring a living 

 female, to endeavour, if possible, to breed them in his 

 aviary. 



' The sounds uttered by this bird are very peculiar ; that 

 which appears to be a note of congratulation resembles 

 somewhat the cawing of a raven, but changes to a varied 

 scale of musical gradations, as he, hi, ho, haw, repeated ra- 

 pidly and frequently, as lively and playfully he hops round 

 and along his perch, descending to the second perch to be 

 admired, and congratulate the stranger who has made a 

 visit to inspect him ; he frequently raises his voice, sending 

 forth notes of such power as to be heard at a long distance, 

 and as it could scarcely be supposed so delicate a bird could 

 utter ; these notes are, whock, whock, whock, whock, uttered 

 in a barking tone, the last being given in a low tone as a 

 conclusion. 



' A drawing of the bird of the natural size was made by a 

 Chinese artist. The bird advanced stedfastly towards the 

 picture, uttering at the same time its cawing congratulatory 

 notes ; it did not appear excited by rage, but peeked gently 

 at the representation, jumping about the perch, knocking 

 its mandibles together with a clattering noise, and cleaning 

 them against the perch, as if welcoming the arrival of a 

 companion. After the trial of the picture a looking-glass 

 was brought, to see what effect it would produce upon the 

 bird, and the result was nearly the same ; he regarded the 

 reflection of himself most stedfastly in the mirror, never 

 quitting it during the time it remained before him. When 

 the glass was removed to the lower from the upper perch he 

 instantly followed, but would not descend upon the floor of 

 the cage when it was placed so low 



' One of the best opportunities of seeing this splendid 

 bird in all its beauty of action, as well as display of plumage, 

 is early in the morning, when he makes his toilet ; the 

 beautiful sub-alar plumage is then thrown out, and cleaned 

 from any spot that may sully its purity by being passed 

 gently through the bill ; the short chocolate-coloured wings 

 are extended to the utmost, and he keeps them in a steady, 

 flapping motion, as if in imitation of their use in flight, at 

 the same time raising up the delicate, long feathers over 

 the back, which are spread in a chaste and elegant manner, 

 floating like films in the ambient air 



I never yet beheld a soil on its feathers. After expand- 

 ing the wings, it would bring them together so as to con- 

 ceal the head, then bending it gracefully it would inspect 

 the state of its plumage underneath. This action it repeats 

 in quick succession, uttering at the time its croaking notes ; 

 it then pecks and cleans its plumage in every part within 

 reach, and throwing out the elegant and delicate tuft of 

 feathers underneath the wings, seemingly with much care, 

 and with not a little pride, they are cleaned in succession, if 

 required, by throwing them abroad, elevating them, and 

 passing them in succession through the bill. Then turning 

 its back to the spectator, the actions above-mentioned are 

 repealed, but not in so careful a manner ; elevating its tail 

 and long shaft feathers, it raises the delicate plumage of a 

 similar character to the sub-alar, forming a beautiful dorsal 

 crest, and, throwing its feathers up with much grace, appears 

 as proud as a lady dressed in her full ball-dress. Having 

 completed the toilet, he utters the usual cawing notes, at 



the same time looking archly at the spectators, as if ready 

 to receive all the admiration that it considers its elegant 

 form and display of plumage demands ; it then takes exer- 

 cise by hopping, in a rapid but graceful manner, from one 

 end of the upper perch to the other, and descends suddenly 

 upon the second perch, close to the bars of the cage, looking 

 out for the grasshoppers which it is accustomed to receive 

 at this time 



' His prehensile power in the feet is very strong, and 

 still retaining his hold, the bird will turn himself round upon 

 the perch. He delights to be sheltered from the glare of the 

 sun, as that luminary is a great source of annoyance to him, 

 if permitted to dart its fervent rays directly upon the cage. 

 The iris frequently expanding and contracting, adds to the 

 arch look of this animated bird, as he throws the head on 

 one side to glance at visitors, uttering the cawing notes or 



barking aloud Having concluded, he jumps down 



to the lower perch in search of donations of living grass- 

 hoppers. 



' The bird is not at all ravenous in its habits of feeding, 

 but it eats rice leisurely, almost grain by grain. Should 

 any of the insects thrown into his cage fall upon the floor, 

 he will not descend to them, appearing to be fearful that in 

 so doing he should soil his delicate plumage; he therefore 

 seldom or ever descends, except to perform his ablutions in 

 the pan of water placed at the bottom of the cage expressly 

 for his use.' 



BIRDPEPPER. [See CAPSICUM.] 



BIRDS, in Latin Aves, in Greek'*Opvt0e, Ornithes, 

 (whence Ornithology), a class of vertebrated, oviparous, 

 feathered bipeds, generally formed for flight. We say ge- 

 nerally, because, though their mechanism is, in its most per- 

 fect development, designed for enabling them to support t-heir 

 bodies in the air and to make progress in that medium, it 

 is also calculated for motion on the ground and for perching 

 in trees. Some families indeed are framed entirely for 

 moving on the ground, and others for that motion and for 

 making their way both on the surface of the water, and 

 even, for a short period, below it, without the power in 

 either case of raising themselves into the air. 



ORGANIZATION. 

 Skeleton. 



Skull (cranium). The first peculiarity which strikes an 

 observer, when comparing the skulls of birds with those of 

 mammifers, is the absence or sutures in the former, the 

 proper cranial bones being consolidated into one piece. 

 The skull of birds is articulated to that part of the vertebral 

 column called the neck by a single condyle or joint, which 

 is situated at the front margin of the great occipital opening 

 (foramen magnum), through which the brain, becoming 

 elongated, as it were, into the spinal chord, descends into 

 the vertebral column. It is this beautiful adaptation of 

 structure to the wants of the animal, that gives such a free- 

 dom of motion to the head, especially in a horizontal direc- 

 tion. Take, for example, the wryneck (lynx torquilla), 

 which, as those who have surprised the bird on the nest 

 will readily admit, can writhe her head round so as to look 

 the intruder in the face, hissing all the while like a snake ; 

 by this 'terrible show' many a bird's-nesting novice is 

 frightened away. Perfect repose in a bird seems hardly 

 to be enjoyed without turning back the head and nestling 

 the beak between the wings ; this attitude the articulation 

 above mentioned enables the bird to command with the 

 least possible effort. 



The orbits are very large in proportion to the skull, to 

 which last the lower-jaw is joined by a somewhat square 

 bone (os quadratum, os carre of the French) not far from 

 the ear. A small bone rests on the square bone at one end, 

 while the other end comes against the palate. When, there- 

 fore, the square bone is brought forward by depressing the 

 lower jaw, and also by muscles adapted to the purpose, the 

 small bone presses up against the palate, and this raises the 

 upper jaw, which, contrary to the rule in the structure of 

 mammifers, is in birds, with but few exceptions, thus gifted 

 with motion. 



Both jaws are completely destitute of true teeth, the want 

 of which is, as we shall presently see, amply compensated. 

 The upper-jaw is either formed of one piece distinct from 

 the skull and articulated with it, as in the parrots ; or it is 

 connected with it by means of yielding elastic bony plates, 

 as ia most other birds. These elastic plates admirably pro- 



