582 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Insessores. Their chief haunts are probably within the arctic circle. 



'^""""v-"*""' In America they are believed to breed about Hudson's 

 Bay, being seen in the United States only from Septem- 

 ber to April. It thus appears, at all events, that they do 

 not there breed during the winter season. 



The great pine gross-beak (Loxia enucleator, Linn., by 

 some regarded as a bullfinch) may be here named as be- 

 longing to the genus Corythus of Cuvier. It is a north- 

 ern species, occurring in the colder regions both of Europe 

 and America. Although Pennant mentions having met 

 with it in the woods of Invercauld in the month of August, 

 we are not aware of its having ever since been seen in 

 Scotland. 



In the genus Colius, Gmelin, the bill is short, thick, 

 conical, somewhat compressed, both mandibles arched, and 

 of nearly equal length. The feathers of the tail are long 

 and graduated, and the plumage, for the most part fine 

 and silky, is usually ash-coloured. The hind toe can as- 

 sume a forward direction, almost as in the swifts. (See 

 Plate CCCXCII. fig. 3.) The species are found in In- 

 dia and Africa. Prior to the time of Vaillant, we knew 

 little of their habits. They are now known to be grega- 

 rious, endowed with but feeble powers of flight, but almost 

 as skilful as parakeets in climbing. They are not at all 

 addicted to insect food ; but their love of fruits, and the 

 tender buds of trees, makes them very injurious wherever 

 land is under horticultural care. They not only dwell 

 together in society, but build their nests in little groups 

 upon the same thorny bush. They are moreover distin- 

 guished by a singular custom of sleeping close together, 

 suspended head downwards from the branches. The spe- 

 cies here represented (Plate CCCXCII. fig. 2) is C. leu- 

 conotus, Lath. (C. erythropus, Gmel.), supposed to be iden- 

 tical with C. capetisis, Linn. 



The genus Buphaga of Brisson has the bill square at 

 the base, and rather gibbous towards the point, which is 

 abbreviated. The species, only two in number, are insec- 

 tivorous, and have derived the name of beef-eaters from 

 their habit of picking larvae from the hides of the larger 

 kinds of cattle, thus freeing them from noxious parasites. 

 The South African species (B. Africdna, Linn.) was ob- 

 served by Vaillant in the country of the Namuquas in 

 small flocks. He found it shy, and difficult to be ap- 

 proached. The other species referred to this genus is the 

 B. erythrorhyncha of Temm., common in the north-eastern 

 countries of Africa, where it follows caravans for the sake 

 of picking insects from the woolly backs of camels, and 

 other beasts of burden. It is singular, that although hi- 

 therto unknown in Southern Africa, it should have been 

 received from Madagascar. 



In the genus Cassicds of Cuv. the bill is much more 

 exactly conical, thick at the base, extremely sharp point- 

 ed, the commissure forming an angulated line as in the 

 starlings. These are American birds of gregarious habits, 

 which feed both on fruits and insects, and frequently ex- 

 hibit such surprising skill and ingenuity in the structure 

 of their nests, that an old lady once gravely asked an Ame- 

 rican Ornithologist whether he did not think they might be 

 taught to darn stockings. In the genus Cassicus pro- 

 perly so called, the base of the bill ascends upon the fore- 

 head, so as to encroach broadly upon the frontlet feathers. 

 Here are contained the largest species. The one we 

 have figured (C. cristatus, Plate CCCXCII. fig. 5) is from 



Cayenne. In the genus Icterus the bill is arched, and Insessores. 

 does not extend upon the forehead except by a sharp s ~Tv - ~-' 

 notch. 1 With the Icteri Cuvier combines the purple 

 grakle, or crow blackbird of America (Quiscalus versicolor 

 of Vieillot), between which and the fish-hawk a singular 

 understanding seems to be kept up. The nest of the lat- 

 ter is of large dimensions, often from three to four feet in 

 breadth, and from four to five feet high, composed exter- 

 nally of large sticks or faggots, among the interstices of 

 which several pair of crow blackbirds will construct their 

 nests, while the hawk sits hatching over all. These birds 

 are very injurious to the crops of Indian corn, and some- 

 times collect in prodigious flocks, descending on the fields 

 like a blackening tempest. They occupy a great extent 

 of territory, being widely spread from Hudson's Bay to 

 within the tropics. They are migratory in the colder 

 districts, and on their first arrival feed on insects as well 

 as seeds. 2 According to Dr Richardson, their first appear- 

 ance on the plains of the Saskatchewan is very striking. 

 They arrive from their southern winter quarters in the be- 

 ginning of May, the males and females in separate flocks 

 of from twenty to a hundred, which perch in crowds upon 

 the leafless branches of the trees, their plumage shining 

 with metallic splendour. 



The genus Xanthornus (les carouges) scarcely differs 

 from the preceding, except that the bill is straight. Here 

 Cuvier places many of the American orioles, such as the 

 red-shouldered species ( O. phceniceus, Linn.). These " red- 

 winged starlings," as Wilson calls them, are generally mi- 

 gratory in the states north of Maryland, but are found 

 during winter in immense flocks along the lower parts of 

 Virginia, both Carolinas, Georgia, and Louisiana, particu- 

 larly near the sea-coast, and in the vicinity of large fields 

 of rice and corn. " In the months of January and Febru- 

 ary, while passing through the former of these countries, I 

 was frequently entertained with the aerial evolutions of 

 these great bodies of starlings. Sometimes they appeared 

 driving about like an enormous black cloud carried before 

 the wind, varying its shape every moment ; sometimes 

 suddenly rising from the fields around me with a noise 

 like thunder ; while the glittering of innumerable wings of 

 the brightest vermilion amid the black cloud they formed, 

 produced on these occasions a very striking and splendid 

 effect. Then descending like a torrent, and covering the 

 branches of some detached grove, or clump of trees, the 

 whole congregated multitude commenced one general con- 

 cert or chorus, that I have plainly distinguished at the 

 distance of more than two miles ; and when listened to at 

 the intermediate space of about a quarter of a mile, with a 

 slight breeze of wind to swell and soften the flow of its 

 cadences, was to me grand, and even sublime. The whole 

 season of winter, that with most birds is past struggling to 

 sustain life in silent melancholy, is with the red-wings one 

 continued carnival. The profuse gleanings of the old rice, 

 corn, and buck-wheat fields, supply them with abundant 

 food, at once ready and nutritious ; and the intermediate 

 time is spent either in aerial manoeuvres, or in grand vocal 

 performances, as if solicitous to supply the absence of all 

 the tuneful summer tribes, and to cheer the dejected face 

 of nature with their whole combined powers of Jharmony." 3 



In this genus some have also placed the noted cow-pen 

 bird of Catesby (Icterus pecoris, Bon.; Emb. pecoris, Wil- 

 son), of which the most remarkable feature consists in its 



1 For a detailed classification of the Icteri of Brisson, see Mr Vigors's " Sketches in Ornithology," Zoological Journal, No. vi. 

 p. 182. 



s Great confusion exists in the nomenclature of these birds, and of their congeners the troupials, hang-nest orioles, and other 

 American species, chiefly in consequence of the transposition of names. Almost every author has composed his groups of different 

 materials, and of course has applied his designations differently. The genus Quiscalus of Vieillot contains four well-ascertained spe- 

 cies, Q- major, versicolor, ferrugincus, and ouritus. 



3 American Ornithology, vol. i. p. 193. 



