THE NUTCRACKER. BIRDS. PARADISEID^:. 



349 



habitations is by no means reciprocated by the occu- 

 pants of the latter ; and, in this country, at all 

 events, it is subject to so determined a persecution, 

 that, as Mr. Yarrell observes, " but for its sagacity, 

 eminently evinced in its self-preservation, it would be 

 a rare bird." 



The Magpie usually dwells in woods and plantations, 

 where it builds its nest in a high tree, but sometimes 

 frequents tall hedges, and builds in a thick bush. The 

 nest, which serves for several seasons, is a domed 

 structure, with an aperture on one side. It is com- 

 posed of thorny sticks, strongly interlaced, plastered 

 with mud on the inside, and lined with grass and root 

 fibres. The eggs, which are laid early in the spring, 

 are six or seven in number, and of a pale bluish- white 

 colour, with numerous spots of ash colour and brown. 

 If taken young, the Magpie is easily tamed, when, 

 like the other species of this family, he becomes very 

 amusing, and exhibits great power of imitating sounds 

 of all kinds. He is, however, the most thievish of all 

 the crows, possessing a stealing monomania so strong 

 that he cannot resist the temptation of picking up and 

 concealing any bright object that may fall in his way, 

 although, of course, his hoards of this nature cannot be 

 of the slightest use to him. 



THE NUTCRACKER (Nucifraga caryocatactes], a rare 

 occasional visitor to Britain, is not uncommon in some 

 parts of the continent of Europe, and is said to be 

 abundant in the pine forests of Russia and Siberia. It 

 measures about fourteen inches in length, and is of a 

 clove-brown colour both above and beneath, the plumage 

 being marked with triangular whitish spots on the extre- 

 mity of each feather. The crown of the head is dark 

 brown, without any spots, the wings are blackish-brown, 

 as are also the tail feathers ; but the whole of the latter, 

 except the two middle ones, have a white tip, which 

 gradually increases in extent towards the sides. The 

 food of this bird consists of insects, seeds, and nuts ; 

 the latter it is said to crack in the same way as the 

 Nuthatch, by fixing them in the crevice of the bark of 

 a tree, and hammering at them with its powerful beak. 



The Nutcracker exhibits some resemblance to the 

 woodpeckers in its habits. It climbs, or rather runs 

 upon the bark of trees, supporting itself by means of 

 its tail, of which the feathers are thus usually more or 

 less worn, and it nidificates in the holes of trees, which 

 it enlarges to suit its purpose by means of its bill. 

 The eggs are five or six in number, and of a yellowish- 

 gray colour, with a few light brown spots. 



THE ALPINE CHOUGH (Pyrrhocorax alpinus), a 

 native of the mountainous countries of southern Europe 

 and Asia, is of a black colour, with a greenish gloss, 

 which is most brilliant on the upper surface ; the bill 

 is orange-yellow, and the feet vermilion. The whole 

 length of the bird is about sixteen inches. Its food 

 consists of seeds, berries, worms, and insects, but in 

 times of scarcity it is known to content itself with 

 carrion. Its nest is built in the clefts and caverns of 

 the rocks, and it lays four or five white eggs, spotted 

 with dull yellow. 



THE CORNISH CHOUGH (Fregilus graculus), a 

 species nearly allied to the preceding, is generally 

 distributed in the rocky and mountainous temperate 



parts of the eastern hemisphere ; in this country it is 

 a rather rare bird, and is generally met with about the 

 cliSs of our southern coast. Its name of Cornish 

 Chough is given to it from its being better known in 

 Cornwall than elsewhere in our island. The plumage 

 of this bird is black, with a bluish gloss ; the irides 

 exhibit two rings, of which the inner is red, the outer 

 blue, and the eyes are surrounded by red eyelids ; the 

 bill and feet are vermilion, and the claws black. 

 From the bright red colour of the feet, the bird is 

 frequently known as the RED-LEGGED CROW. 



The food of the Chough consists of berries, grain, 

 and insects, and he has been seen following the plough 

 like a rook, to pick up the grubs from the broken 

 ground. In confinement grasshoppers and fernchafers 

 have been found to be favourite articles of food with 

 him, but the cockchafer appears to be too large to be 

 swallowed whole ; he places it under one foot, pulls it 

 to pieces, and thus devours it. The nest is composed 

 of sticks, and lined with wool and hair ; it is built in a 

 cavity of some high cliff, or of some lofty ruined castle 

 or tower, and contains four or five eggs of a yellowish- 

 white colour, spotred with gray and light brown. 



THE WHITE-WINGED CHOUGH (Corcorax leucop- 

 terus) is generally distributed over the whole of New 

 South Wales and South Australia, evincing a preference 

 for the open parts of the forests, except during the 

 breeding season, when it haunts the borders of brooks 

 and lagoons. It is of a black colour, with a greenish 

 gloss, with the exception of the wing pinions, which 

 have the greater part of their inner webs white. The 

 iris is scarlet, and the bill and feet black. The nest is 

 composed of mud and straw, in the form of a cup or 

 basin, and placed upon the branch of a tree, usually 

 overhanging the water. It contains from four to seven 

 eggs, and Mr. Gould thinks that several females may 

 sometimes deposit their eggs in the same nest, as four 

 or five of them may be seen on the trees close to one 

 engaged in sitting. 



FAMILY II.-PARADISEID^E. 



The small family to which the Birds of Paradise 

 belong is evidently intermediate between that of the 

 Crows, of which we have just described some of the 

 more striking examples, and that of the Starlings to 

 which we shall next have to refer. These birds 

 appear, however, to be most nearly allied to the Crows, 

 with which they have been arranged by some ornitho- 

 logists. By others they have been placed with the 

 Epimachi, amongst the tenuirostral birds. 



The general characters of the Birds of Paradise are 

 briefly as follows : In the form of the bill, the position 

 of the nostrils, and the presence of a tuft of plumes 

 concealing the latter, they resemble the crows; the 

 sides of the upper mandible are notched towards the 

 tip ; the wings are long and rounded at the tip ; the 

 tarsi are long and strong, and covered in front by a 

 single long plate, followed by two or three smaller 

 shields, or by three or four large plates of nearly equal 

 size ; the toes are well developed and terminated by 

 long, curved claws, the posterior toe being very long, 

 and the inner anterior one shorter than the outer. But 



