THE BENT HOT. 285 



its form and plumage, and it possesses many of the habits of the shrikes, not only killing 

 and eating the smaller birds, but hanging its food upon branches in true shrike fashion. 

 It is an excellent hunter, and as it can be easily tamed and taught to hunt after small birds 

 for the amusement of its owner, it has earned the name of Hunting Crow. In its native 

 country it is very commonly kept in captivity. The voice of the Hunting Cissa is loud and 

 screeching, but possesses withal a certain joviality of utterance that renders it far from 

 unpleasing. 



The color of this bird is singularly beautiful, and may challenge comparison with that of 

 any other bird of either hemisphere. The general hue is pale but bright grassy-green, very 

 vivid upon the upper parts, and taking a yellowish tint below ; there is also a. dash of yellow 

 across the forehead and the sides of the crest. A broad black band crosses the forehead, and, 

 enveloping the eye in its progress, passes round the back of the neck. The (pull-feathers of 

 the wing are mostly bright chestnut-red, and the tips of the inner quill-feathers are gray, 

 diversified with a bold semilunar black band near their extremities. The central feathers 

 of the tail are green, taking a grayer tinge at their extremities, and all the other tail-feathers 

 are bright green for the first two-thirds of their length, are then crossed with a bold broad 

 black band, and the tips are grayish-white. The legs, bill, and feet are bright scarlet. The 

 size of the Hunting Cissa is about equal to that of a common magpie. 



These beautiful colors are unfortunately never seen except for a very short time after 

 moulting, as they rapidly fade by exposure to light, even during the life of the bird, and after 

 its death become conqmratively dingy. The delicate and brilliant grass-green of the upper 

 surface soon takes a more sober hue, and before many days have elapsed, the general color of 

 the bird is simply gray with a greenish wash, in place of the rich resplendent tints which it 

 had so lately boasted. 



TREE-CROWS. 



Between the true Crows and the Jays, another small sub-family has been placed by the 

 authors whose arrangement we follow, and is known by the title of Calleatina?, or Tkee Crows. 

 In these birds there is no tooth in the upper mandible, and the bill is comparatively short, 

 curved, and rather rounded above. They are only to be found in the warmer parts of the 

 eastern hemisphere, and many of them are quite as carnivorous as any of the preceding Cor- 

 vidse, some feeding chiefly upon insects of various kmds, and others varying their diet with 

 small birds and quadrupeds. 



The Benteot, one of these birds, is a native of Java, where it is not very scarce, but is 

 seldom seen except by those who go to search for it, as it is extremely timid, and is never 

 known to approach within a considerable distance of human habitations, as is the case with the 

 generality of the Crow tribe. Sometimes it may be seen cautiously making its way towards 

 some newly-cleared ground, in the hope of making a meal on the worms, grubs, and other 

 earth-living creatures that are generally to be found in freshly-turned soil, and also for the 

 sake of feeding upon the fruits of the trees that skirt the field. Should, however, the land 

 be near a house, the Benteot holds aloof, and declines to put itself into danger. 



Part of this excessive timidity may, perhaps, be owing to the fact that it is by no 

 means a strong or rapid flyer, its wings being short and rounded, and its flight in con- 

 sequence weak and not capable of long duration. It usually flies by day, and, according 

 to Mr. Horsefield, "maybe seen about noon, saikng heavily through the air in a right line 

 towards the trees surrounding the openings in the forest." The strong bill and powerful 

 claws show that the bird is well adapted for the capture of insects and disinterring them 

 from their subterranean hiding-places, as well as for eating the various hard-shelled fruits on 

 which it partly subsists. In color the Benteot appears at a little distance to be nearly black, 

 but on a close approach its plumage is seen to be a very dark and rather dull green, "shot" 

 plentifully with a deeper hue of bronze. 



