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CHAPTER IV. 
CUNEIROSTRAL CONTINUED. WOODPECKER TAME 
ONE. WRYNECK TONGUE OF. — LEVIROSTRAL 
LIGHT-BILLED.— PARROTS. — TOUCAN.— GALLINACEOUS 
POULTRY TRIBE. PIGEONS, AMERICAN PRODI- 
GIOUS NUMBERS OF RAPID FLIGHT EMPLOYED AS 
MESSENGERS MODE OF CATCHING— ATTACHMENTS 
OF. — COCKS. PHEASANTS — COURAGE OF— ON BREED- 
ING PHEASANTS BOX FOR FEEDING PRIZED BY AN- 
CIENTS. TURKIES, WILD — SOCIAL HABITS OF. — PAR- 
TRIDGES, TAMED — NESTS OF VARIOUS SORTS OF. 
QUAILS IMMENSE FLIGHTS OF, BUSTARDS. 
OSTRICH NESTS OF AFFECTION HUNTING — 
STRENGTH OF. — CASSOWARY AND EMU. 
The W oodpecker 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 perform- 
ing 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 
