Warblers.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



319 



the central parts. It is found in southern Siberia, 

 Hunsrarv, Egypt, the Crimea, and Asia Minor : it 

 is very common in Japan, frequenting the streams 

 of valleys among the mountains. The upper figure 

 represents the bird in its winter dress ; the lower, in 

 its summer plumage. 



1432.— The Java Forktail 



{MotaciUa speciosa, Horsf.) ; Enicurus speciosus, 

 Temm. ; Chenginging or Kins^king of the Javanese. 

 In habits and manners this bird resembles the Pied 

 Wagtail, and is found in Java near small rivulets, 

 more especially such as have a rocky or gravelly 

 bed ; it is there seen running about with alacrity, 

 incessantly moving its tail and picking up worms 

 and insects. It is almost entirely confined to the 

 southern coast of Java, which abounds in streamlets 

 descending rapidly from the southern hills and 

 shaded by luxuriant shrubs. (Horsfleld's ' Zoolo- 

 gical Researches.') 



1433. — The Female Maryland Yellow-throat 



(Sylvia Marylandica, Wilson) feeding the young 

 of the Cow-Bunting (Molothrus Pecoris). The Mary- 

 land Yellow-throat is a pretty little warbler, inha- 

 biting the deep humid thickets of the United States 

 of America, where it prys about the stems, leaves, 

 and roots in quest of insects, peeping into every 

 crevice, and occasionally uttering a simple twitter. 

 Its nest is placed on the ground among dried leaves, 

 in the depth of a thicket of briars, arched over, and 

 a small hole left for entrance. It is in the nest of 

 this species and in those of three or four others that 

 the Cow-Bunting drops her eggs, one in each nest ; 

 this is hatched by the foster parent, who rears the 

 young one, which, as it would seem, is excluded 

 from the egg before the young of the Yellow-throat, 

 and as the intruder demands care and food, the 

 other eggs are neglected, and the chicks which they 

 contain necessarily perish. As the young Cow- 

 Bunting grows up, its foster-parents provide for it 

 with great assiduity, and manifest all the anxiety 

 respecting it which they would do were their own 

 offspring under their charge. In this strange pro- 

 ceeding we are reminded of the cuckoo, which lays 

 an egg in the nest of the hedge-sparrow or titlark ; 

 but in the latter case the young cuckoo is not ex- 

 cluded from the egg before the rest, but, exceeding 

 them in size and strength, is enabled in a short time 

 to jostle them all out of the nest, that he may have 

 room enough for himself, and receive undivided 

 attention. Fig. 1434 represents the nest of the hedge- 

 sparrow (Accentor raodularis), with a young cuckoo 

 clamorous for the food which the foster-parent is 

 bringing, and of which its own young are to be de- 

 prived. That Shakspere was well acquainted with 

 the habits of the cuckoo and the nursing of its 

 young by a foster-parent, " which," as Mr. Selby 

 says, "has within these late years been fully sub- 

 stantiated," is very evident from the words he puts 

 in AVorcester"s mouth : — 



" And being fed by as, yon used us so 

 As thst ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird, 

 Useth the sparrow ; did oppress our nest. 

 Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk. 

 That even our love durst not come near your s^ght." 



Ki»g Henry IK, Part I., Act v., Scene 1. 



1435. — The Familiar Creeper 



(Priniafamiliaris). Prinya of the Javanese. Mr. 

 Bwainson, in his 'Classification of Birds,' thinks that 

 Prinia may be a subgenus of Drymoica, a group of 

 the Sylviadae. The Priniae, he observes, have all 

 the activity and familiarity of the wrens, so much 

 resemble them in general appearance, in their short 

 sweet song, and the habit of throwing up the tail, 

 that it is not very surprising they should be classed 

 with the scansorial creepers. The present species 

 is a native of Java, frequenting gardens, among the 

 shrubs and trees of which it builds its nest : it is 

 sprightly, and sports in short and rapid flights 

 amidst the branches. 



General colour above, dark brown, with a tinge 

 of orange ; throat white ; breast sulphur yellow ; 

 wings crossed by two white bands ; tail-feathers, 

 except the two middle, marked near the end with 

 black ish-brown ; tarsi yellowish. 



1436. — The Kentucky Warbler 



(Sylvia formosa. Wilson). This beautiful bird is 

 particularly numerous in Kentucky and Tennessee, 

 frequenting low damp woods, and building its nest 

 sometimes in the fork of a low bush and sometimes 

 on the ground. The materials are loose grass mixed 

 with the light pith of weeds, and lined with hair. 

 The eggs are white, sprinkled with reddish. Its 

 notes are loud and monotonous. The Kentucky 

 Warbler is active and sprightly, but at the same 

 time restless and quarrelsome, fighting with its own 

 species or with others, at least during the breeding 

 season. It migrates southward on the approach of 

 winter. 



Length, five inches and a half. Upper parts 

 olive-green ; line over the eyes and all the under 



parts brilliant yellow ; head slightly crested ; crown 

 deep black, back of head mottled ; a large spot 

 below the eye black; legs flesh-colour. 



Among our pictorial specimens we have several 

 interesting nests belonging to different species of 

 the Sylviadae, and illustrative of their varied modes 

 of building. 



1437- — ^The Nest of the Capocier 



(Sylvia macroura, Latham). The Capocier is a 

 South African bird, which builds, in the fork of a 

 tree, a large felted nest of flax, cotton, and moss, 

 having an oval chamber within and a lateral orifice. 

 Externally it is very irregular, but the walls of the 

 interior are neatly worked, the texture being as fine 

 as woven cloth. A pair of these birds, which Le 

 Vaillant watched while building this structure, were 

 seven days in completing it : it was about nine 

 inches in height externally, and as white as snow, 

 and enveloped the contiguous branches, which, as 

 it were, pierced the sides without deranging the 

 circular cavity of the interior : the quantity of 

 material used was astonishing. It is perhaps to 

 this species that Thunberg alludes when he says 

 that a bird called the Kapoch forms its nest, which 

 is as curious as beautitiil, and is of the thickness of 

 a coarse worsted stocking, from the down of the 

 rosemary-tree. 



1438, 1439. — Nests of the Pinc-pinc 



(Cisticola textrix, Swainson). Fig. 1438 is from 

 Le Vaillant ; Fig. 1439, from Sonnerat, whose figure 

 is too formal, but it can scarcely be doubted that 

 it is meant to represent the nest of the same species 

 as that given by Le Vaillant. 



In many points the nest of the Pinc-pinc resem- 

 bles that of the Capocier ; it is usually placed, says 

 the latter writer, " among prickly shrubs, particu- 

 larly the mimosas, but sometimes on the extreme 

 branches of trees. It is commonly very large, 

 though some are larger than others, but the differ- 

 ence is only in the external appearance ; in the in- 

 terior they are almost of the same dimensions, 

 namely, between three and four inches in diameter, 

 while the circumference of the exterior is often 

 more than a foot. As the nest is wholly composed 

 of the down of plants, it is either of a snowy white- 

 ness or of a brownish colour, according to the 

 quality of the down which is produced by the neigh- 

 bouring shrubs. On the outside it appears to be 

 constructed in an irregular and clumsy manner, 

 according to the situation of the branches in which 

 it is built, and to which it is so firmly attached, 

 part of them passing through its texture, that it is 

 impossible to remove it without leaving one-half 

 behind. If, however, the nest have the appearance, 

 on the outside of being badly made, we shall be the 

 more surprised on looking into the interior that so 

 small a bird, without other instrument than its bill, 

 its wings, and tail, could have felted vegetable down 

 in such a manner as to render it as united and of as 

 fine a texture as cloth, even of good quality. The 

 nest in question is of a rounded form, with a narrow 

 neck made on its upper part, through which the 

 bird glides into the interior. At the base of this 

 tubularneckthere isaniche, or shelf-like appendage, 

 like a small nest resting against the large one, and 

 which, as was observed by Le Vaillant, serves as a 

 momentary resting place, by means of which the 

 Pinc-pinc may pass more easily into the nest, which, 

 without such a contrivance, it might find some diffi- 

 culty in accomplishing, as it could not move through 

 so small an entrance on the wing ; and the outside 

 of the nest being slightly formed, the bird would 

 injure it were it constantly to rest on it, whilst this 

 little appendage is as firmly felted as the interior of 

 the nest. Sometimes there are two or three of these 

 perches. 



The Pinc-pinc is familiar in its manners, and in 

 districts where it is not molested will pass in and 

 out of its nest, though a person be closely watching 

 it. 



1440. — ^Thb Nest of the Yellow Wren, or 

 Haybird 



(Sylvia Trochilus). The Yellow Wren (Willow 

 Wren of Bewick) is a delicate little warbler, which 

 visits our island in summer, tenanting copses and 

 groves. It usually selects some dry bank, the side 

 of a ditch, or the tangled roots of a bush as the site 

 of its nest, which is a domed structure, composed of 

 the interwoven stems of dried grasses, a little moss 

 and a few leaves, and loosely lined with feathers. 

 The entrance is in front, under the arched dome. 

 The eggs are six or seven in number, of a white 

 colour, spotted with reddish-brown, especially at the 

 larger end. 



1441, 1442.— The Nest of the Sedge Warbler 



{Salicaria Phragmitis, Selby). We have stated 

 that this bird usually suspends its nest between 

 three or four adjacent reed-stems. Mr. Selby has 



found it also in willow and low birchen bushes. 

 The specimen. Fig. 1442, was built among the 

 branches of lucerne (Medicago sativa), and was 

 almost composed of hay, a few tufts of willow-down 

 and elm-blossoms, with a few hairs within. It is 

 altogether a very different structure from the nest 

 attributed by Bolton to this species (Fig. 1441), 

 which was bound round with stout woollen yarn: 

 we suspect Bolton to have been mistaken. 



1443. — A Nest attributed to the Reed-Buntino 



(Emberiza schcmiclus), from a specimen in the 

 British Museum. There can be but little doubt 

 that this nest is really that of the Reed-Wren (Sali- 

 caria arundinacea, Selby^, for the nest of the former 

 bird is built in a low bush or tuft of grass, and never 

 suspended between the stems of r'eeds ; whereas the 

 nest of the Reed-Wren, which we have often exa- 

 mined, is very deep, almost entirely concealing the 

 bird while sitting, constructed of long grass, and 

 suspended between a few adjoining reeds. Mon- 

 tagu observes that he has seen this bird sitting on 

 her nest when the wind blew hard, and that every 

 gust forced it almost to the surface of the water. 

 The great Sedge-Warbler of Holland and other 

 parts of the Continent (Salicaria turdo'ides) builds a 

 similar nest. Suspended as the nest of the Reed- 

 Wren is, and swinging in the breeze, its depth is 

 necessary to prevent the eggs or young from being 

 thrown out when the supporting reeds are bowed 

 by the force of the wind. The Reed-Wren is one 

 of our summer warblers, and is closely related to 

 the Sedge-Warbler ; it is, however, larger, and not 

 so extensively diffused over our island, though it is 

 common on the reed-beds of our southern and 

 eastern counties. It is abundant in Holland. We 

 have specimens killed in the neighbourhood of 

 London. 



1444. — Nest of the Tailor-Bird 

 {Sylvia Sutoria, Latham). Of the nests of this 

 species we have had the opportunity of minutely 

 examining excellent specimens. Dwelling in India, 

 where tree-snakes are abundant, this little bird 

 makes a leaf, at the extremity of a slender twig, its 

 cradle. If the leaf be large enough, it draws the 

 edges together, so as to form a pouch, the end of 

 which is drawn up so as to assist in supporting the 

 bed within ; if the leaf be not sufficiently large, an- 

 other growing by it, or sometimes a dead one, is 

 sewed to it, in order to form a convenient recep- 

 tacle. The material it sews with is composed of 

 vegetable fibres twisted into a thread. The nest 

 itself within this leafy case consists of fine down in- 

 termixed with fibres and a few feathers. An excel- 

 lent specimen is in the Museum of the Zoological 

 Society. 



1445. — A Nest from Lady Clive's Collection of 

 Drawings. 



This nest is attributed to a species of Tailor-Bird, 

 called by Latham Merops minimus (Query, a 

 species of Cinnyris?). Forbes, in his Oriental 

 Memoirs,' says the Tailor-Bird resembles some of 

 the humming-birds at the Brazils in shape and 

 colour. The hen is clothed in brown, but the 

 plumage of the male displays the varied tints of 

 azure, purple, green, and gold, so common in those 

 American beauties. Often, he adds, " have I 

 watched the progress of an industrious pair of 

 Tailor-Birds from their first choice of a plant to the 

 completion of a nest and the enlargement of the 

 young." 



Latham notices among the drawings of Sir J. 

 Anstruther the figure of a nest composed of several 

 leaves, like those of the' hazel, sewed together and 

 united to a living leaf on the tree ; the inner nest 

 consisting of dry bents, fibres, and hair. The bird, 

 however, was not identified. 



1446. — The Nest of the Golden-crested Wren 



(Regulus cristatus). To the nidification of this 

 species we shall hereafter have occasion to refer 

 more fully ; we may, however, here observe, that in 

 general it is suspended at the extremity of a sweep- 

 ing branch of pine or larch, attached to the under 

 side of the foliage and secured with great art to the 

 twigs, while a profusion of " tassels" hang over it, 

 securing it from rain and shrouding it from observa- 

 tion. Sometimes it is built amidst embowering ivy 

 covering the trunk of a tree. 



1447. — The Nest of the Redbreast 



(Erythica Rubecula). We have previously noticed 

 the nidification of this well-known bird :— 



" Humble is nis home 

 Ann uell concealed ; sometimes within the sound 

 Of heartsome mill-rlack, where the spacious door 

 White dusted tells him plenty reigns nround, 

 Close at the root of brier-bush that o'erhangs 

 Tlie narrow stream. 

 Oft near some single cottage he prefers 

 To rear his little home." 



Birds ofScothnd, 



