The Grackles, or Hill-mynas, are Indian birds, with glossy black plumage, relieved by bare flaps of yellow skin projecting backwards from the head immediately behind the eye. These birds make excellent pets, learning both to whistle and talk.
Photo by J. T. Newman] [Berkhamsted.
COMMON STARLING.
Starlings appear to be on the increase in Scotland, whilst larks are said to be on the decrease, owing to the destruction of their eggs by the former.
We come now to the beautiful Orioles—birds belonging to the temperate and tropical parts of the Old World. The males, as a rule, are clad in a vestment of brilliant yellow and black, but in some species the under-parts are relieved by rich crimson. One species—the Golden Oriole—has on several occasions visited the British Islands, and even in one or two instances has nested there. But, as with all brightly plumaged birds in England, no sooner is their presence discovered than they are doomed to fall to the gun of some local collector.
The Hang-nests, Cow-birds, and Rice-birds are American birds, bearing in many respects a resemblance to the Starlings, chiefly, perhaps, in the form of the beak. Generally black in plumage, in many bright colour is conspicuous.
Hang-nests range from North and Central America to Southern Brazil. As a rule they are brilliantly coloured, the livery being bright orange and yellow, set off by black and white. The majority of the numerous species build remarkable nests, looking like long stockings, which they hang from the under side of the bough of a tree; they are composed of coarse grass deftly woven together.
The Cow-birds are mostly South American, though the United States possess two or three species. Some, like the Cuckoos, are parasitic, dropping their eggs into the nests of other birds, to be hatched by the owners: the young cow-bird, however, dwells in harmony with his foster-brothers and -sisters, instead of ejecting them from the nest, like the young cuckoo. The name Cow-bird is bestowed upon these birds on account of the persistent way in which they haunt herds of cattle for the sake of the flies which congregate about those animals.
The Rice-birds are represented by some rather showy forms, and others of wonderful powers of song. The typical Rice-bird, or Bob-o-link, is an especial favourite as a songster. Thoreau writes of this song: "It is as if he [the bird] touched his harp with a wave of liquid melody, and when he lifted it out the notes fell like bubbles from the strings.... Away he launched, and the meadow is all bespattered with melody." Where rice is extensively cultivated, however, this bird is by no means so enthusiastically welcomed, causing immense destruction to the standing crops—flocks numbering, it has been said, some millions alighting in the fields and leaving too little grain to be worth the trouble of gathering.