2,34 ^^ B^^D LAND. 



bird's voice had such a purely musical quality; and 

 he sang just as loudly and sweetly as he does in his 

 native copse, bringing back the memory of many a 

 pleasant woodland ramble. 



A beautiful family group next claimed attention. 

 It comprised two adult silver pheasants, a male and 

 female, and two little chicks recently from the shell, 

 which had been hatched in the Zoo. They looked 

 like downy chickens, and were about as large. There 

 was no hint of the long, gorgeous plumes that their 

 papa bore so proudly ; nothing but brownish, slightly 

 checkered down made up their suits. When their 

 mamma pecked at something on the ground, they 

 would scamper to her for it, as you have seen small 

 chickens do. Unlike most young birds, they picked 

 up their food themselves, and did not pry open 

 their mouths to be fed. 



Had you seen the birds I next stopped to ogle, 

 you would have joined in my merriment ; for they 

 were the great kingfishers of Australia. What heavy 

 bills they carried, looking like good-sized clubs ! 

 One of them pounded his beak against his perch 

 until it fairly rattled with the concussion. When I 

 tapped lightly against the wires, they stretched out 

 their necks, and hissed at me out of their huge 

 mouths. 



Nothing was more pleasing than a large wired 

 house containing a dozen or more blue jays. Rain 

 was falling gently at the time, and the refreshing 

 drops filtered upon the birds through the wire roof. 

 How they enjoyed their bath as they flitted from 



