290 CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



remarkable habits of this group, and so many reliable naturalists have substantiated his statements 

 that we cannot hesitate to give them a place here, though our own observations have not always 

 furnished the same results. 



The Mouse Birds, according to the writer we have just mentioned, generally live in small families, 

 numbering about six individuals, and us.ially select a densely foliaged tree or thick mass of bushes as 

 their gathering place. Only those who have visited Africa, and thus become acquainted with the 

 remarkable characteristics of its luxuriant vegetation, can realise the actual appearance of the haunts 

 thus selected as cities of refuge by these most strange and mouse-like creatures. Our readers must, 

 therefore, try to picture to themselves a gigantic tree, with dense and usually thorny foliage, so inter- 

 woven with and embedded in the huge parasitical plants that grow around it as to be nearly concealed 

 from view. In this green mass, which is impenetrable to man and beast, and even impervious to the 

 attacks of the sportsman, the Mouse Birds make their home, creeping, like the animals whose name 

 they bear, through such tiny and invisible crevices as to lead the spectator to imagine that they have 

 actually vanished from his sight, when suddenly a little head appears, and the bird makes its exit 

 through the hole by which it entered. How they manage to creep in and out of such small apertures 

 seems quite inexplicable ; Le Vaillant describes their motion whilst accomplishing this curious per- 

 formance as being extraordinarily rapid. Their flight is performed with wings and tail outspread; 

 whilst in the air the whole party constantly utter their shrill cry, which is accompanied by a very 

 peculiar chirping sound ; they but seldom rise to any great height when on the wing, and still more 

 rarely settle upon the ground. Le Vaillant tells us that the Mouse Birds pass the night hanging in 

 clumps upon the branches, like bees upon a hive while swarming. Perreaux, who verifies this state- 

 ment, mentions having seen them clinging to each other whilst asleep, the first bird holding on to the 

 branch with one foot, while it supports a second bird by entwining one of its legs with its own free 

 limb ; this second bird, in like manner, supporting a third, until they form a chain that often contains 

 as many as six or seven of these living links. We ourselves have never succeeded in observing either 

 of these curious habits, but have seen them during their sleep not only with both feet upon the 

 branch, but lying full length upon it with the breast downwards. Whilst climbing among the foliage 

 they will often hang like Titmice from the under part of a twig, but never retain this position for more 

 than a very short time. The Colies are far from shy, and are easily captured if it has once been 

 possible to penetrate their fastnesses — indeed, so little timidity do they exhibit that we have seen 

 them caught with the hand. 



Their food appears to be limited to vegetable diet, for we have never found insects in their crops, 

 or, indeed, any substances except buds, fruit, or corn. The fruit of the plant called " Christ's Thorn" 

 affords them their principal subsistence, but they will also devour grapes, limes, and cactus figs, getting 

 at them after the manner of the Titmouse, by climbing over their surface. In Central Africa we heard 

 no complaint of the mischief done to the gardens by the Mouse Birds, but in the Cape of Good Hope, 

 owing to the large numbers in which they occur, the inhabitants regard them as formidable enemies. 

 Nets or similar precautions are perfectly useless to prevent their incursions if they have cast their eyes 

 upon a tempting-looking tree, for, if there be an aperture however small, their lithe, elastic bodies 

 can penetrate it with the utmost ease. The nests, which are described as being of a conical shape, 

 and formed of roots of various kinds, cotton-wool, grass, and leaves, are placed close together upon 

 the most inaccessible branches. The brood consists of from six to seven eggs. Large numbers of 

 the Mouse Birds are shot in the Cape, not only on account of the mischief they do, but for the sake 

 of their juicy flesh. 



