160 PASSERES. COLIAD^E. 



The plumage of these birds is short, dense, and 

 smooth, with a silky appearance ; the feathers of 

 the body are furnished with an accessory plume, 

 those on the lower part of the back are very short, 

 those of the head are lengthened, forming a long 

 pointed crest, which can be erected at pleasure. 

 The prevailing colours are sombre, as grey or ashen, 

 from which circumstance, and from that of their 

 crawling about trees, they are denominated at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, Muys-vogel, or Mouse-birds. 



These birds subsist mainly on fruits, the buds 

 of trees, and the tender sprouts of vegetables ; 

 from the mischief which they do in the gardens 

 of the colonists, devouring the shoots of the culi- 

 nary plants as fast as they appear, they are much 

 disliked. They walk badly on the ground, but 

 are expert climbers, clinging to the branches in 

 all sorts of attitudes. They sail from bush to 

 bush in a long row, on&xafter another, alighting 

 always near the ground, and clambering to the 

 topmost twigs, with the assistance of their beak 

 and long stiff tail, picking off the buds or berries 

 as they ascend ; and they do not pass to the next 

 bush till the whole flock is ready, when they 

 again sail along in the same regular succession. 

 Their cry is monotonous, the windpipe (trachea) 

 being furnished with only a single pair of vocal 

 muscles ; and that of the largest species is said to 

 resemble the bleating of a lamb. Their bodies 

 are much more heavy and massive than would be 

 supposed at first appearance, the plumage lying 

 very flat and close. 



The nests of the Colies, which, as already re- 

 marked, are placed in groups, are spacious and 

 of a round form ; in each of these is deposited 



