Little Bird 
Friends. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
(i6g) 
Little Bird Friends. 
A HISTORY RELATED BY MISS H. B. RUTT FOR YOUNG BIRD LOVERS 
(Continued from p. 140.) 
CHAPTER VI. The Home of Monkeys and Nuts. 
CLEM, THE PILEATED FINCH. 
This is a quietly-coloured little bird, but very 
pretty. He is about the size of a Blue Tit, and 
not unlike in shape, being more chubby than 
slender. His feathers are two shades of slatey- 
grey, and his beak and legs are the same. But 
the curious part about him is his head. It looks 
exactly as if he had on a Scotch cap, not a tam- 
o’-shanter, but a real Scot’s “bonnet,” the kind 
that has two ribbons hanging behind and a ditch 
in the middle of the crown, so that it can be 
folded up quite flat and put in the pocket. Well, 
Clem’s cap is black and the crown a bright 
crimson. He generally wears it almost folded 
up, so that only a narrow piece of the crown can 
be seen. But when he is excited or pleased he 
raises the feathers on his head into a crest, then 
the cap seems to unfold itself, and the crown 
shines out a brilliant red. Pileated means 
crested. I am afraid I cannot tell you much 
about Clem. I have only had him a short time, 
and I do not seem to know him yet. He is very 
well behaved, quite a gentleman, and never un¬ 
pleasant with the other birds, but I don’t think 
he is very intelligent. It may be that I do not 
understand him, and have yet to learn his lan¬ 
guage. He is happy and lively, and has a small 
song, beginning with rather a pretty whistle and 
ending in a kind of choke. 
Clem's Birthplace. 
Now we must polish up our imaginations as 
bright as possible if we are to get the least idea 
of the wonderful country that Clem came from. 
Brazil was his birthplace. This, you know, is 
by far the largest country in South America, in¬ 
cluding very nearly as much land as the whole 
of Europe. The greater part of it is in the 
Torrid Zone, and it stretches north and south of 
the Equator. It is, I suppose, one of the most 
brilliant and beautiful countries in the world. 
Here abound the gaudiest Parrots and Macaws, 
the curious bird called a Toucan, with an enor¬ 
mous beak brightly coloured in stripes, looking 
not unlike a Neapolitan ice, and large Emus and 
Vultures. Here, too, are swarms of the tiniest 
hcimming-birds, the metallic gleam of their 
feathers giving them the appearance of being 
made of gold and silver set with precious stones. 
The sun shines down with a clear fierceness that 
we in England can scarcely imagine. The sky 
is of a hard, brilliant blue. There is next to no 
twilight, the sun still blazing near the horizon, 
the sky, for a few minutes only, becomes gold 
and crimson, then, scarcely before one realises 
that the day is over, it is dark, and the stars are 
brilliant overhead. 
All children know something, at any rate, of 
Brazil as the place where the nuts come from— 
those delicious nuts with the terribly hard shells; 
but as if this were not enough to protect them, 
they are packed together in a most wonderful 
way into one huge husk, which is as hard as 
iron, and half an inch thick. What we should, I 
think, all wish most to see is a Brazilian forest. 
Here it is that the Brazil nut-tree grows often to a 
height of 100 feet. Many of the other trees are 
of great height, and nearly all in the early 
summer are covered with the most brilliant blos¬ 
soms of every colour. Monkeys of different 
kinds swing among the branches. Palms and 
very sweet-scented myrtle take the place of blue¬ 
bells and anemones jn our woods at home. Let 
us imagine for a moment that we have the 
chance of a stroll in this forest. “ How cool and 
silent it will be ! ” perhaps we think. But noj 
not silent. First there is the intolerable screech¬ 
ing of the Parrots, very few sweet singers even 
among the smaller birds. Then there is the 
chattering and scolding of the monkeys over our 
heads. Then, worst of all, there is the tre¬ 
mendous humming of the insects. Do you 
think I am exaggerating? No, indeed! These 
tropical insects are so large and exist in such 
myriads that the sound of their humming is 
really tremendous, and can be heard through 
the still air more than a mile out at sea. First, 
no doubt, we should notice the gorgeous butter¬ 
flies fluttering in crowds over the myrtle flowers, 
but then, less pleasantly, our attention would be 
called to the swarms of stinging insects, some 
much larger than any we saw before, who would 
attack us on every uncovered spot, nearly 
driving us mad. Here, also, roams the jaguar, 
a fierce and terrible beast something like a tiger, 
and the enormous snake called the boa-con¬ 
strictor. Ah, yes! All this is most gorgeous 
and attractive for a short time. But, after all, a 
sweet English wood, with its cool, green trees 
and leafy ground decked with simple flowers, is 
certainly a happier place for a stroll. 
(To be continued.) 
LUXURY IN EGGS. 
An egg-collector writes : “ I have just 
purchased for my collection of ‘ British Birds 
Eggs ’ that of a Plover, or Peewit, for which I 
have paid 3 d. Last week in Jermyn Street, 
London, I inquired the price of Plovers’ eggs 
and was informed that they were 3s. each, and 
they had been 12s. 6d. Now it has occurred to 
me that, apart from the fact of supply and 
demand, it is at least (to put it mildly) somewhat 
of an outrage that when we have so many starv¬ 
ing children in the land luxury should be pur¬ 
chased at so high a rate. To me it seems 
wicked.” 
