FAMILY C ONIROSTRATA. CONE-BEAKED. 



69 



breeding ; but in winter they are common in the open country and our 

 gardens. They are morose, courageous, and extremely active ; feed espe- 

 cially on insects, of which they are great destroyers, and also upon seeds 

 and fruits, but they do not eat the whole seed, as they break a hole 

 through its shell and peck out the kernel ; small and weakly birds they 

 also prey upon, destroying them by repeated blows with their beak upon 

 the head. In form they are thick-set and strong, and their colours chaste 

 and quiet, except in one or two species. Most of them build in holes of 

 trees, but some make very curious nests, which they suspend either to the 

 branches of trees or among the reeds, like some of the aquatic warblers. 



The Long-tailed Titmouse (P. Caudatis), figured on Plate 6, is a well- 

 known European species. It is about five and a half inches long, including 

 the tail, which is rather more than three inches. It is exceedingly quick 

 on the wing ; feeds on chafers, beetles, and spiders ; and in some parts of 

 the country it builds a very curious and elegant nest, called a featherpoke. 



The genus is divided into three sections: 1. Those with alar quill of 

 moderate length, twelve species ; 2. Those whose alar quill is short and 

 deficient, three species ; and 3. Those with beak straighter and more 

 pointed, five species. 



EMBERIZA Bunting. The birds which form this genus are many of 

 them natives of the British Isles ; they are granivorous, and the hard 

 structure on their palate enables them readily to break their food before 

 swallowing it. 



The Ortolan Bunting (E. Hortulana), Plate 6, is rather smaller than the 

 Yellow Hammer ; it has the back of an olive colour ; the throat, bill, and 

 legs, yellow; wings deep brown, as is also the tail, except the outer 

 feathers, which are white on their inner edge. These birds are natives of 

 France, Italy, Germany, and Sweden, but not of England : they are 

 caught for the table, and considered fine eating. 



The other species are: The Yellow Bunting, the Reed Bunting, the 

 Snow Bunting, and the Common Bunting. 



FRINGILLA Grosbeak. We follow the arrangement of Temminck, 

 which includes all the subgenera noted by Cuvier, except Ploceus, adding 

 also some of the Buntings, Emberizw, and the Grosbeaks, which belong 

 to the Loxia of Linnaeus. The greater number of species belong to 

 warm climates, but many are found in England and other parts of 

 Europe, and afford us some of our most favourite and domestic songsters. 

 They live on grain and seeds, which they shell by nipping between the 

 mandibles before swallowing. They are excellent breeders, laying their 

 eggs many times in the course of the year : they are usually considered 

 great enemies to agriculture ; but it may be doubtful, whether the ravages 

 which the old birds commit on the corn fields are not compensated by the 

 immense destruction they make among the eggs and larva; of insects, in 

 order to support their young. 



The genus is divided into three subgenera, from the form of the beak : 

 1st. Broad-billed Finches, to which division belong the Sparrows, which 

 form the genus Pyrgita of Cuvier ; their beak not being quite so large as 

 in others : they form the connecting link with the genus Ploceus. There 

 are fourteen or fifteen species, of which the House Sparrow (F. Domes- 

 tica) and the Canary Finch (F. Canaria) are well-known species. 



2. Short-billed Finches, of which the Chaffinch (F. Ccelebs), Plate 6, is the 

 most common species ; it is rather larger than the House Sparrow : fore- 

 head black ; crown of the head, back, and sides of the neck bluish-ash ; 

 sides of the head, throat, front of the neck, and chest vinaceous-red in 

 the male ; back and scapulars reddish-brown, tinged with olive ; wings 

 and tail black ; belly, thighs, and legs, white tinged with red ; legs 

 brown ; sides hazel ; beak blue, tipped with black. The plumage of the 

 female inclines to green and has no red on the breast. The Chaffinch is a 

 sprightly bird, common in England and throughout Europe ; inclined to 

 be pugnacious, the males frequently fighting with each other till one is 

 fairly beaten. Though commonly a bird of passage, it is nevertheless, to 

 be found in England throughout the year. 



The number of species is about twenty-four, including the Linnets 

 (Vidua of Cuvier), and several of the genus Loxia of Linnaeus. 



3. Finches with long beaks, including the Goldfinch (F. Carduelis), the 

 Parrot Finch (F. Psittacea), and the Lesser Redpde (F. Linaria). There 

 are nine species. 



LOXIA Crossbill. The remarkable peculiarity distinguishing the Cross- 

 bills is implied in their name, each mandible inclining towards its point in 

 an opposite direction to the other, so that as they are considerably curved 

 towards the point, they cross each other, and give the beak a very remark- 

 able appearance. The use of this peculiar structure has been well 

 described by Buffon : " The bill hooked upward and downward, and bent 

 in opposite directions, seems to have been formed for the purpose of 

 detaching the scales of the fir-cones and obtaining the seeds lodged beneath 

 them, which are the principal food of the bird ; it raises each scale with 

 its lower mandible, and breaks it with the upper." 



The Common Crossbill (L. Curvirostra), figured on Plate 6, is about six 

 inches long : the general colour of the plumage is dingy green. Quills of 

 the wings and tail blackish edged with green, the great and little coverts 

 edged with yellowish-white; legs brown. It is native of the Northern 

 regions and of the Alps and Pyrenees, whence it migrates during the 

 warmer seasons. It visits England in June. 



The Parrot Crossbill, very rare in England, and the White-winged Cross- 

 bill, native of North America, are the other two species. 



COEYTHDS The Pine Grosbeak (C. Enucleator), and the Parrot-billed 

 Grosbeak (C. Psittaceus), constitute this genus. The former species 

 (Plate 6) is about nine inches in length ; general colour crimson rose ; the 

 beak and lesser wing-coverts black; greater wing-coverts tipped with 

 white ; belly straw coloured ; tail feathers black with pale edges ; legs 

 brown. Very common in North America, but occasionally, though not 

 often, seen in England. 



PARADISEA Paradise Bird. The Paradise Birds are called by the 

 natives of New Guinea, and the neighbouring isles, from which they are 

 brought, Manucodes, which, in their language, 

 signifies God's birds, on account of the wonder- 

 ful virtues attributed to them by the priests of 

 the country. And from their being but little 

 seen during incubation, a notion arose that for 

 the time they migrated to the terrestrial Para- 

 dise, and hence, perhaps, has originated their 

 generic name. 



The Emerald, or Greater Paradise Bird (P. 

 Apoda, Lin.) about the size of a Thrush, mea- 

 suring thirteen inches from the tip of the beak 

 to the extremity of the tail ; upper part of the 

 body, chest, and belly, chestnut-brown ; forehead 

 velvet-like black glossed with green ; top of 

 the head and upper part of the neck citron- 

 yellow ; upper part of the throat golden-green ; front of the neck violet 

 brown ; sides of the body furnished with long feathers, which extend far 

 beyond the tail ; their barbs are loose and thread-like, of a yellowish-white 

 colour, spotted towards the tip with a little purplish-red ; caudal quills 

 ten, besides which two long horny pendicles covered with down, and beset 

 with rough liairs instead of barbs, and terminating in a point, pass from 

 each side of the rump to a considerable length forming a curve of nearly 

 two feet long ; beak homy ; legs lead-coloured. Is found in New Guinea, 

 and in the Islands of Arou, Tidor, and Waigiou. The Paradise Bird flies 

 with rapidity, and rises very high in the air, on account of the length and 

 suppleness of its feathers, and hence has been called the Ternate Swallow. 



The Papuan, the Sanguine, the Magnificent, the King, the Superb, and 

 the Golden-breasted Paradise Birds, form, with the species just described, 

 the genus Paradise. 



BUPHAGA Beef-eater. There is one species the size of a Lark, native 

 of Africa. They alight on cattle and pick out the larva; of the Gad-fly, 

 hence it has got the name of Beef-eater. 



CASSICA Helmet-bird. The name Cassicus is assigned to it on account 

 of the base of the beak rising on the forehead and sloping out the feathers 



Bird of Paradise. 



