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of strange and charming birds. Some of these were colies 
—the “mouse-birds” of South Africa—which first attract 
attention by tufted top-knots that shine like liquid gold 
against an azure sky above. Besides that, the colies 
would be notable for the extraordinary length of their 
tails ; but both characters are eclipsed by the gymnastic 
Colies on the Erythrina. 
attitudes they habitually assume. These curious 
creatures will rest by the hour—apparently at ease— 
though suspended beneath their perch in a pose that 
no human athlete on the cross-bar could maintain beyond 
fleeting seconds. These singular attitudes of the colies, 
together with their exaggerated tails and arrow-like 
flight, remind one of parrakeets; and there, right 
alongside them, on the topmost boughs perch other 
