72 
NATURAL HISTORY 
bird. 1 he general colour of their plumage is black. They 
are gregarious birds, inhabiting the West India islands, and 
may be made to talk like parrots. 
The Wattle Bird is a native of New Zealand. It is 
about the size of a jay, of an ash colour, and is peculiarly 
distinguished by the wattles which grow under the bill 
like those ol a cock. The flesh is eatable. 
Of the Crackle there are about eleven species inhabit- 
ing America and the tropical climates, some of them the 
size of a magpie, others about that of a blackbird. Their 
general plumage is black. They live on maize, fruits and 
insects ; but one species in the Philippine islands, which is 
called from its resemblance to the next genus, and from its 
beauty, the Paradise Grackle , is remarkable for its beinu- 
an extraordinary destroyer of grasshoppers. The inhabit- 
ants of the Isle of Bourbon, being greatly infested with 
that insect, imported a pair of these birds, which presently 
relieved them from that pest. In process of time however 
the grackles became very numerous, and the inhabitants 
thinking them injurious, proscribed them by an edict, on 
which the grasshoppers increased so fast upon them, that 
they were obliged to send for more, which presently dis- 
patched every grasshopper in the island. 
The boat tailed Grackle, from Jamaica, has its plumage 
black, but it is remarkable for the feathers of its tail formimr 
a hollow like a boat on the upper surface, so that it may be 
compared to a hen’s tail with the underside turned upper- 
most. It is the size of a cuckow. 
The Bird of Paradise. This bird has been more cele- 
brated for the false imaginary qualities which are attributed 
to it, than for its real and truly remarkable properties. It 
has been reported of it, that it is naturally without legs, 
and is perpetually upon the wing, even while it sleeps, and 
that it subsists entirely upon vapours and dew, with a 
variety of other assertions, equally false and ridiculous. 
I here are about eight different species of these birds; but 
that which is best known is t he greater Paradise Bird, which 
appears to the eye of the size nearly of a pigeon, though in 
reality the body is not much larger than that of a thrush. 
The tail, which is about six inches, is as long as the body - 
the wings are large compared with the bird’s° other dimen- 
sions. The head, the throat, and the neck are of a pale gold 
colour. The base of the bill is surrounded by black feathers, 
as also the side of the head and throat as soft as velvet, and' 
