The Food of Birds 



i6i 



instantly accept changed conditions and flourisli under 

 the new regime. 



As the range of diet of the whole ('lass of birds is so 

 vast, doubtless the food of the individual sj)ecies varies 

 more than we should ever suppose, hut many instances 

 are recorded of birds I'egularly feeding on food for whose 



capture they seem ver> ill adapt- 

 ed. Insects form the stai)le food 

 of all flycatchers and t}i'anl- 

 birds, but the Sulphur Tyrant and 

 several others readily de\()ur 

 snakes. They dash down at one 

 of these reptiles, catch it up in 

 their beak, and, flying back to 

 a l)ranch or stone, hannner the 

 snake flail-like, until its life is 

 battered out. Certain small king- 

 fishers living in New Zealand 

 have deserted the habits of their group, and subsist on the 

 remarkal)le diet of "flies, young birds, and cherries"! 



The change in hal)its of the Kea Parrot is only too 

 well known, especially to the sheep-raisers in New Zea- 

 land, the home of tliese l)irds. Originally exclusive 

 fruit-eaters, they ha\e lately become so fond of the fat 

 from the l)acks of living sheep that they have develo})ed 

 into ravenous birds of prey, vivisecting their victims and 

 rejecting all but the choicest morsels. Gulls have long 

 been known to enjoy an insect diet, and on the pampas 

 in the vicinit}' of Buenos Ayres the people look and pray 

 for flocks of gulls as the only relief from the hordes of 



Fig. 124. — Texas Kingfisher 

 fishiiisir for insects. 



