273 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Cuneirostral, continued. Woodpecker Tame one. Wryneck 

 Tongue of. Levirostral Light-billed. Parrots. Toucan. 

 Gallinaceous Poultry Tribe. Pigeons, American Pro- 

 digious numbers of Rapid flight Employed as Messengers 

 Mode of catching Attachments of. Cocks. Pheasants 

 Courage of. On breeding Pheasants Box for Feeding. 

 Prized by Ancients. Turkeys, Wild Social Habits of. 

 Partridges, tamed Nests of Various sorts of. Quails Im- 

 mense Flights of. Bustards. Ostrich Nests of Affection 

 Hunting Strength of. Cassowary and Emu. 



THE Woodpecker is, by sound at least, almost as well 

 known as the Cuckoo. Its noisy, merry, laughing cry 

 may often be heard in the neighbourhood of woods, or issuing 

 from some large tree, to the ^tem of which, if carefully 

 looked for, the bird may be seen clinging, the head thrown 

 a little back, the weight of the body resting almost entirely 

 upon the tail, the feathers of which are hard and wiry, more 

 like bristles indeed than feathers ; and if examined, these 

 will generally be found much worn at the edges, by being 

 constantly rubbed against the rough bark of trees. It is a 

 shy and solitary bird, but nevertheless some species at least 

 can be tamed. 



A clergyman, travelling in Turkey, was performing 

 quarantine in a Turkish village, having passed through a 

 district in which the plague was raging. He was confined 

 in a wretched apartment, and had nothing to interest or 

 amuse him during a tedious imprisonment, everybody keeping 

 at a distance for fear of infection, when one morning, while at 

 breakfast, a bird of the Woodpecker species flew in at the 

 window with, to use his own words, " all the familiarity of 

 an old friend," hopping on the table and picking up the 

 crumbs and flies. It had belonged to a young girl just 

 buried, and by a singular instinct left the house of the dead, 

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