278 AN INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



devoted love for the poets of all ages, from the 

 Hebrew Psalmist to the writers of the present day ; 

 while the attachment of a bird to its mate is such 

 that if one dies, the other often pines away and does 

 not long survive. This is believed to be invariably 

 the case with the love-bird, a kind of parrot which 

 has received its name for that reason. 



Many birds have not only a family life, but also a 

 social life. The weaver birds that build a social nest, 

 and the migratory birds that 

 fly in flocks, are instances of 

 this. Not among the least 

 interesting examples of social 

 birds are our own English 

 rooks ; their habits have often 

 been observed, but we are 

 still far from understanding 

 all their little ways, which yet 

 Ks.iM.-NestoftheHummmg offor to the naturalist a wide 



Bird, one half the natural size. ggj^ ^f g|.„^y_ rpj^g acquisi- 

 tive habits of the magpie and others of its tribe, which 

 steal and hoard up all sorts of objects that strike their 

 fancy, especially those that glitter, compare curiously 

 with the ways of uncivilized man. As for the intelli- 

 gence of the parrot, starling, and other birds that learn 

 to imitate human language, and to use it for their own 

 purposes, — for they usually bring their vocabulary 

 into play when they are hungry, — it may be favourably 

 contrasted with that of their captors, who rarely learn 

 to use more than one note of bird language. 



