THE PERCHING-BIRDS 



515 



mythology of the Red Indian. 



The smaller relatives of this 



celebrated bird, the RoOK, 



the Carrion-crow, and the 



Jackdaw, and more distantly 



the Jay and the Magpie, are 



doubtless as familiar to our 



readers as the raven. 



Although probably un- 

 known to many, the CHOUGH, 



with its glossy black plumage 



and brilliant red bill and feet, 



is a British bird, and lives 



still in certain parts of Eng- 

 land, though fast verging on 



extinction. 



Another very remarkable 



member of the family is the 



HuiA, and this on account of 



the fact that the male and 



female dififer markedly in 



respect of the shape of the 



bill, this being in the female 



long and sickle-shaped, and 



in the male short and cone- 

 shaped. This bird frequents 

 the wooded regions of North 

 Island, New Zealand, living 

 upon grubs found in decaying 

 wood, and on berries. The 

 female procures the grubs by 

 probing the holes which they 

 have made in the sounder 

 wood, the male by breaking 

 away the decayed portions of 

 the tree; but occasionally it 

 happens that, having cleared 



away as much of the decayed material as possible, the latter is unable to reach his prey, in 

 which case he calls up the female, and yields his find to her, to extricate with her longer 

 bill. So great a difference in the form of the bill in the sexes of the same species is elsewhere 

 unknown among birds. 



The Crows hold the important position of head of the Class birds, yet they are far outshone 

 in splendour by many of the groups already examined, though, with the exception perhaps of 

 the Humming-birds, these all pale before the Birds of Paradise. 



Varying in size from a crow to a thrush, the best known of the latter is the GREAT Bird OF 

 Paradise, which was discovered towards the end of the sixteenth century, if not earlier. On their 

 first discovery it was popularly supposed that these birds lived in the air, turning always to the 

 sun, and never alighting on the earth till they died, for they had neither feet nor wings. Hence 

 the Malay traders called them " God's Birds," the Portuguese " Birds of the Sun," and the Dutch 

 "Paradise-birds." Seventeen or eighteen inches long, these birds have the body, wings, and tail 

 of a rich coffee-brown, which deepens on the breast to a blackish violet or purple-brown. The 

 top of the head and neck are of a delicate straw-yellow, the feathers being short and close-set, 



■Dr. R. IV. Shuftldt] 



YOUNG AMERICAN BLUE JAY (NATURAL SIZE) 



TAe blue jay is a most remarkable mimic 



