186 
THE GOLDEN EIVEE. 
sound. A woodpecker, yellow barred with 
brown, his crest golden, will fly on to the trunk 
of a tree, and begin tap tapping. A pretty 
little hawk, mottled brown with a black head, 
flicks across the open. A Humming Bird, the 
common one of South America, iridescent green 
with a red beak, suddenly appears feeding on 
the pale flesh-coloured trumpets of a creeper, 
whirring like a moving shadow from blossom to 
blossom, until he disappears at a pace which 
no eye can follow. A pair of delightful jays 
will begin to take an interest in you. Nature 
clearly has marked these birds out as comedians, 
for she has dressed them in black and white 
suits, and given them staring yellow eyes, with 
bright blue stripes over. But the most tame, 
the most confidential, and the most amusing of 
all is the bird called Urraca. Urraca is Spanish 
for magpie, and is I know applied to other 
South American birds; what this particular 
bird is I know not, but he is the same size as 
our jackdaw, and clearly his cousin. His colour 
is greyish purple, which becomes bluish purple 
on the wings and tail, and his beak and claws 
are black. The first thing you notice is their 
soft musical caw, constantly repeated and 
getting nearer and nearer, and then you will 
see the two birds hopping restlessly from twig 
to twig, and putting their heads on one side to 
get a better look at you. They are most 
inquisitive and tame, and delight in perching 
