THE PERCHING BIRDS 
123 
Photo by J. T, Newman 
COMMON 
STARLING 
Starlings appear to be on the increase in Scotland, whilst larks 
are said to he on the decrease, owing to the destruction of their 
eggs by the former 
known as the Ox-PECKER would seem at first sight 
to have little to recommend it; yet it is one of 
the benefactors of the larger African mammals, 
clearing them of flies and other insect-pests. 
Buffaloes, rhinoceroses, elephants, are alike grateful 
for its services, as it climbs about their huge 
bodies, picking off the liliputian enemies by which 
they are beset. But little appears to be known 
of the breeding-habits of these birds. 
In strong contrast to the dull-looking Ox-birds 
arethebeautifulGLOSSvSTARLiNGS and Grackles. 
The African Glossy Starlings, indeed, repre- 
sent the most beautiful of all the members of the 
Starling Tribe. In one of the handsomest and 
best-known species — the Long-tailed Glossy 
Starling — metallic green and purple-violet are 
the predominating tones in the plumage, glossed 
with copper reflections, and relieved by black or 
darker bars of green and purple. In another 
.species — the Green Glossy Starling of East- 
ern Africa — the shimmer of the plumage is so 
wonderful that the exact shades of colour are diffi- 
cult to describe, in that they change completely, 
according to the light in which the bird is held. 
The Grackles, or Hill-mynas, are Indian 
birds, with glossy black plumage, relieved by 
bare flaps of yellow skin projecting backwards 
These birds make excellent pets, learning both to 
from the head immediately behind the eye. 
whistle and talk. 
We come now to the beautiful ORIOLES — birds belonging to the temperate and tropical 
parts of the Old World. The males, as a rule, are clad in a vestment of brilliant yellow and 
black, but in some species the under-parts are relieved by rich crimson. One species — the 
Golden Oriole — has on several occasions visited the British Islands, and even in one or two 
instances has nested there. But, as with all brightly plumaged birds in England, no sooner 
is their presence discovered than they are doomed to fall to the gun of some local collector. 
We pass now to a group of exceedingly interesting birds, some of which are remarkable 
on account of the beauty of their plumage, others from their wonderful nesting-habits. The 
group includes many familiar as cage-birds, such as the Long-tailed Widow-birds, the Red- 
beaked Waxbills, Amadavats, Java Sparrow, Grass-finches, Munias, and so on, all of 
which are embraced under the general title of Weaver-birds, a name bestowed on account of 
their peculiar nests. 
Abundant in Africa, and well represented in South-eastern Asia and Australia, these birds 
bear a strong family resemblance to the Finches, from which they differ in having ten primary 
quills in the wings. 
One of the most peculiar is the South African Long-tailed Whydah- or Widow-bird. 
Strikingly coloured, this bird is rendered still more attractive by the extremely elongated tail- 
feathers, w'hich are many times longer than the body, so long, indeed, as to impede its flight, 
which is so laboured that children commonly amuse themselves by running the bird down. 
Kaffir children stretch lines coated with bird-lime near the ground across fields of millet and 
Kaffir corn, and thereby capture many whose tails have become entangled among the threads. 
In brilliancy of coloration the Whydah-birds — for there are several species — are pressed hard 
