GREEN TODY. 77 



" The Green Tody is a bird of peculiar structure, 

 and peculiar habits. It is exclusively an insect 

 feeder, and burrows in the earth to breed. The 

 banks of ravines, and the scarps of dry ditches, 

 are excavated by its feeble feet, in which two 

 out of three of its front toes are united together, 

 leaving only the terminal joint free, and hence the 

 feet of this kind of birds are called syndactylous. 

 The hole runs into the banks some eight inches 

 or a foot: at the extremity of this subterranean 

 lodging, it nestles in secrecy and security. 



" As the subterranean nest is made wherever there 

 is friable mould easy of excavation, ravines and 

 gullies, whose banks are earthy, and where the 

 water passes off rapidly from the surface-soil, are 

 generally selected for breeding. These gullies are 

 sheltered from exposure to the drift rain by 

 opposing banks, or they are covered by over-hang- 

 ing shrubs. The excavation is made by means 

 of the beak and claws. It is a winding gallery, 

 rounded at the bottom, and terminating in a suffi- 

 ciently wide lodging, lined with pliant fibres, 

 and dry moss and cotton, placed with some atten- 

 tion to arrangement. Four or five grey, brown- 

 spotted eggs are laid, and the young are fed within 

 the cave till they are full-fledged. 



" The combination of circumstances that make up 

 a fit nestling place for it, may be well understood 

 from the following selection of a burrow, by a pair 

 of birds, in the garden of a friend. A box filled 

 with earth had been placed on tressels within water, 

 for growing lettuces from seed, or rather for saving 



