i6o 



CASSELLS BOOK OF BIRDS. 



of a family of Wedge-tailed Eagles ( Uroaetos sphanunis), and tells us that the little male was 

 perching without any sign of fear on the same branch as his formidable but certainly very friendly 

 neighbour. 



THE RICE BIRD. 



The Rice Bird (Padda oryzivora), one of the largest of the Asiatic Finches, constitutes, with one 

 or two others, a group distinguished by their strong beaks, which are nearly straight, forming at their 



THE RICE BIRD (Padda oryzivora). 



origin almost a right angle with the forehead, and furnished with a slight ridge in front of the nostrils. 

 The wings are of moderate length, the two first quills being considerably longer than the rest ; the 

 individual quills that form the short and rounded tail are of unusual breadth ; the plumage is grey 

 or brown, with white patches upon the cheeks. In China these birds have always been called by the 

 name that still distinguishes them, from the fact that they subsist in great measure upon " Padda," or 

 rice that is still in the husk ; and Chinese artists from the earliest times have thought them objects worthy 

 of being constantly painted upon porcelain and rice-paper. They were not known to Europeans until 

 about a century and a half ago, but at the present day are exported from Asia in great numbers. The 

 plumage of the Rice Bird is grey, the wings of a somewhat deeper shade, and the sides lightly tinted 

 with rose colour ; the cheeks are of a pure white ; the quills grey, with a dark border, and 



