470 HOMES WITHOUT HAlfDS. 



height of sixteen feet for an ostrich-like bird seems rather 

 gigantic, but does not appear to cany with it any idea of its real 

 magnitude. The height of a very fine ostrich being about seven 

 or eight feet, we say that the aepyomis must be twice as tall as 

 an ostrich, and so dismiss the subject from our minds. But, 

 when we come to compare the imaginary bird with actually 

 existing beings, we shall better understand the dimensions of a 

 bird that measured sixteen feet in height Sixteen feet is the 

 average height of the adult girafie, the females varying from 

 thirteen to sixteen feet, and the males from fifteen to eighteen. 



It is impossible to say that there never was a bird as large as 

 a giraffe, but all our present knowledge controverts such an idea^ 

 If, however, we keep in mind the comparative dimensions of tho 

 apteryx and its egg, we must be prepared to find that the 

 aepyomis, although necessarily a large bird, may not be larger 

 than an ostrich, and need not be so larga 



Thus, then, the comparative size of an egg is by no means an 

 tmimportant fact in natural histoiy, and the comparison of two 

 such birds as the apteiyx and the cuckoo may at least save us 

 from the danger of generalizing too hastily. 



The second point in the histoiy of the Cow-bird is its love for 

 its young, which is quite equal to the affection that is manifested 

 by the lapwing and other birds that endanger themselves in 

 order to draw attention away from their offspring, and directly 

 opposed to the indifference towards the young which seems to 

 actuate the ordinary cuckoo. 



In Australia there is a large group of rather pretty birds, 

 popularly called Honey-eaters, because they feed largely on the 

 sweet juices of many flowers, although the staple of their diet 

 consists of insects. They seem indeed to occupy in Australia 

 the position which is taken in America by the humming-birds, 

 and by the sun birds of the old world. To this group belong 

 many familiar and interesting species, such as that which pro^ 

 duces a sound like the tinkling of a bell, and is in consequence 

 called the BeU-bird ; the different species of Wattle Birds ; the 

 odd, bald-headed Friar Birds, and the splendidly decorated Poe 

 Birds. 



One species of it, which comes in the present section, is the 

 Blue-faced Honet-batek of New South Wales, called by the 



