273 
CHAPTER XIII. 
Cuneirostral, continued. — Woodpecker — Tame one. — Wryneck 
— Tongue of. — Levirostral — Light-billed. — Parrots . — Toucan. 
— Gallinaceous — Poultry Tribe. — Pigeons, American — Pro- 
digious numbers of — Rapid flight — Employed as Messengers — 
Mode of catching — Attachments of. — Cocks. — Pheasants — 
Courage of. — On breeding Pheasants — Box for Feeding. — 
Prized by Ancients. — Turkeys, Wild — Social Habits of. — 
Partridges, tamed — Nests of — Various sorts of. — Quails — Im- 
mense Flights of. — Bustards. — Ostrich — Nests of — Affection — 
Hunting — Strength of. — Cassowary and Emu. 
T HE Woodpecker is, by sound at least, almost as well 
known as the Cuckoo. Its noisy, merry, laughing cry 
may often be heard in the neighbourhood of woods, or issuing 
from some large tree, to the stem of which, if carefully 
looked for,' the bird may be seen clinging, the head thrown 
a little back, the weight of the body resting almost entirely 
upon the tail, the feathers of which are hard and wiry, more 
like bristles indeed than feathers ; and if examined, these 
will generally be found much worn at the edges, by being 
constantly rubbed against the rough bark of trees. It is a 
shy and solitary bird, but nevertheless some species at least 
can be tamed. 
A clergyman, travelling in Turkey, was performing 
quarantine in a Turkish village, having passed through a 
district in which the plague was raging. He was confined 
in a wretched apartment, and had nothing to interest or 
amuse him during ,a tedious imprisonment, everybody keeping 
at a distance for fear of infection, when one morning, while at 
breakfast, a bird of the Woodpecker species flew in at the 
window with, to use his own words, “ all the familiarity of 
an old friend,” hopping on the table and picking up the 
crumbs and flies. It had belonged to a young girl just 
buried, and by a singular instinct left the house of the dead, 
