1 64 CASSELL'S ]iOOK OF DIRDS. 



any distance, and often seem to move through the air in a backward direction. We are without 

 particulars concerning the mode of breeding and nidification of this species. 



The CATERPILLAR EATERS (Campep/taga) comprehend a number of birds inhabiting the 

 East Indies and contiguous islands, as also Africa and New Holland. With their mode of life we are 

 but little acquainted, beyond the fact that they associate in small parties, and seek their food almost 

 exclusively amongst the foliage of trees and bushes. They consume great numbers of insects and 

 their larvre, and some few eat berries. 



THE RED BIRD, OR GREAT PERICROCOTUS. 



The Red Bird, or Great Pericrocotus (Pcricrocotus sftcriosus), the species we have selected as 

 the representative of its family, is a magnificent creature, about nine inches long, and twelve inches 

 and a half broad. The wings, in which the fourth and fifth quills are longer than the rest, measure 

 four and a quarter and the tail four inches. The beak is short, broad at its base, and slightly curved. 

 The tarsi are short, the feet delicate, and the claws much hooked. The plumage of the male is 

 of a brilliant blueish black upon the back, quills, and centre tail-feathers ; whilst the entire under 

 side, a broad band across the wings (formed by a line of spots upon the outer quills), and the exterior 

 tail-feathers are glowing scarlet. In the female, the brow, back, and upper tail-covers are greenish 

 yellow ; the quills dusky black, spotted with yellow ; the centre tail-feathers tipped with deep yellow ; 

 the rest of the plumage is bright yellow, decorated with various dark markings. In both sexes the 

 eye is brown, and the beak and feet black. 



These very beautiful birds are met with extensively throughout the greater part of India, 

 particularly in Calcutta, Assam, and Burmah ; they are most numerous in such localities as are 

 3,000 or 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. Like most of their congeners, they are generally 

 active and social, usually gleaning their insect food from amongst the buds and blossoms of their 

 favourite trees, and only occasionally descending to the ground or seeking their prey upon the wing. 

 Jerdon tells us that whilst the business of the day is going on the males and females separate from 

 each other, each sex associating in small parties of four or five birds, and carrying on their work in 

 the most lively manner, hopping and climbing briskly about among the foliage, and constantly 

 uttering their cheerful and penetrating note. The nest of the Red Bird found by the writer to 

 whom we have alluded, was constructed of moss and delicate fibres, and contained three white eggs, 

 lightly spotted with brownish red. Radde mentions a grey species, inhabiting China, the Philippine 

 Islands, and Eastern Siberia, and tells us that the flocks which he saw, each numbering some fifteen 

 or twenty birds, tumbled noisily about near the tops of the trees, and filled the otherwise silent 

 forests with their shrill chattering cry. On the first approach of danger, these lively parties at once 

 united into large flocks, and sought refuge in the highest trees, preserving meanwhile such unbroken 

 silence as to render their capture a work of great difficulty. 



The FLY-SNAPPERS (Myiagra), another family of these birds, inhabit the eastern hemisphere, 

 and are recognisable by the slender formation of their body, moderate-sized wings, in which the 

 fourth and fifth quills exceed the rest in length, and long tail ; in the males of some species the web 

 of the centre tail-feathers is much developed ; the beak is broad and compressed, broad at its base, 

 straight at the culmen, incised at its margins, and hooked at its extremity. The feet are short and 

 weak ; the plumage bright-coloured, and rich in texture. The base of the beak is surrounded with 

 bristles. All the members of this family are unusually brisk and restless in their habits, and enliven 

 their native forests by their gay plumage and cheerful notes. 



