Like the foregoing sub-family, the Colies are confined to Africa. They have decided affinities with the true Plantain-eaters, but are distinguished at a glance by their long tails, the feathers of which are much pointed, and become smaller and narrower towards the outside of the tail. They are most dexterous climbers, as was well seen in the captive specimens of the Chestnut-backed Coly, which were brought by Cameron from Angola, and lived for some time in the London Zoological Gardens.
THE WHITE-BACKED COLY (Colius capensis).
The Colies are known in the Cape Colony by the name of Muisvogel, or Mouse-bird, and they are not uncommon, ranging about in small families of from six to eight individuals. Mr. Layard says that they fly with a rapid, though laboured flight, generally at a lower level than the object at which they aim, and on nearing the latter they rise upwards with a sudden, abrupt curve. They creep among the branches like Parrots, and hang suspended head downwards, without inconvenience; and it is said that they invariably sleep in this position, many of them congregated in a ball. The nest was found by Mr. Andersson in Damara Land, between September and December. It was placed in a small bush, and was composed externally of grass and twigs, lined internally with softer grass, and the eggs were dull white, and, according to his observations, always three in number. Mr. Andersson states that the bird “is gregarious in its habits, being found in flocks by day, and also when roosting at night. Its flight is short and feeble, seldom extending beyond the nearest bush or tree, on reaching which it usually perches on one of the lower branches, and then gradually glides and creeps upwards through the foliage, using both bill and feet for that purpose. It is essentially a fruit-eating bird, but I believe when hard pressed for its regular food it does not despise insects and the young shoots of plants. Its flesh is palatable.” The Colies as a rule are dull-coloured brown birds, but they have a long crest. The present species is perhaps the handsomest, being ash-coloured, and having the lower back and rump purple glossed with red, while a white line, bordered on each side by a broad black one, extends from beneath the shoulders to the rump. The bill is bluish-white, and the feet bright red. The length of the bird is thirteen or fourteen inches.
THE FIFTH FAMILY OF THE ZYGODACTYLE PICARIAN BIRDS.—THE WOODPECKERS (Picidæ).
These are perhaps the most typical of all the yoke-footed or climbing birds, as they are most expert climbers, being aided in the latter operation not only by their long toes, which are arranged as usual in this order in pairs, but by their stiffened tail, which enables them to climb with great rapidity up the perpendicular trunks of trees. If they wish to descend a little way they do not turn and come down head-foremost, as a Nuthatch would do, but they let themselves down by a few jerks, still keeping an oblique position, with the tail downwards. The bill in almost every member of the family is wedge-shaped, and very powerful, and with this organ a Woodpecker taps vigorously at the bark, which he sometimes also prises off to get at the grubs or insects underneath. These latter, as they endeavour to escape, have little chance against the intruder, who, in addition to the stout bill which discloses their place of concealment, possesses a peculiar tongue, which is capable of being protruded to a long distance, is furnished with minute barbs at the end, and is covered with a glutinous fluid from which the insects are unable to free themselves. The Woodpeckers nearly all procure their food in the above manner, but occasionally frequent the ground, and the Green Woodpecker (Gecinus[252] viridis) commits great ravages among ant-hills. The resting-place is generally a hole excavated by the bird itself in a hollow tree, and the eggs are white. Among the most aberrant of the Woodpecker family are the Wrynecks (Iÿnx[253]), of which one species is well known in England under the name of the “Cuckoo’s mate.” The Wrynecks are all birds of beautiful mottled plumage, and do not have a stiffened tail like a true Woodpecker. They are found in Europe, in India, North-Eastern and Southern Africa. Woodpeckers, on the other hand, are extremely plentiful in the New World, and are distributed all over Africa, Europe, and Asia, but are not found in the Australian region, no Woodpecker occurring beyond the Island of Celebes in the Moluccas.
Fig. 1.—“HYOID” BONE OF ADULT FOWL.
(After W. K. Parker.)
(ch) Cerato-hyals; (bh) the so-called Basi-hyal; (b.br) Basi-branchial, or Uro-hyal; (c.br, e.br) together form the thyro-hyal.
One great peculiarity in the anatomy of the Woodpeckers is the structure of the tongue, and its relation to the hyoid bone and its horns, or cornua. (For a description of this part in the Mammalia, see Vol. I., p. 168.) In Birds the hyoid bone is a much more complex structure than in the Mammalia. Besides forming the basis of the otherwise mainly muscular substance of the tongue, it is continued backwards in most birds as a double chain of bones, each pair of which bears a separate name significant of its importance; and the whole is apparently quite distinct from the skull above and from the larynx below. Its composition in the common fowl is best rendered intelligible by reference to the accompanying woodcut (Fig. 1). It represents the entire hyoid apparatus divested of all muscular and other surrounding tissues. The upper part of the figure is that nearest to the tip of the tongue, and the references to the lettering become clear in the course of the subsequent description.