BIRDSNESTING, a general term for the pursuit of collecting and preserving birds’ eggs, with or without the nests themselves. The nests and eggs of wild birds are nowadays protected by local laws almost everywhere in both Great Britain and the United States. By law they may be taken for scientific purposes only, by special licence. In order not to interfere seriously with breeding it is customary to take but one egg from a nest, and, if the nest itself be taken, to wait until the young birds have left it. Every egg, unless “hard-set,” should be blown as soon as removed from the nest. This is done by opening a small hole in its side by means of a drill with a conical head, manufactured for the purpose, a minute hole for the insertion of the drill-head having first been made in the shell with a needle, which is then used to stir up the contents, so that they shall flow easily. A blow-pipe with a curved mouth is then inserted, the egg is held hole downwards, and the contents blown out. The old-fashioned method of making two holes in the egg is thus superseded. Should the egg be “hard-set” a somewhat larger hole is made and its edges reinforced with layers of paper pasted round them. Minute forceps are then introduced and the embryo cut into pieces small enough to pass through the hole. The inside of the egg is then rinsed out with clean water, and also before being placed in the cabinet, with a solution of corrosive sublimate, which prevents decay and consequent discoloration of the inner membrane. Finally the egg is placed with the hole downwards upon a sheet of white blotting-paper to dry. The authentication of the eggs is the most important duty of an egg-collector, next to identifying the specimens. According to some the best method is to mark with a fine pen on the egg itself the variety, scientific name, locality of nest, date of taking and the initials of the collector, as well as a reference to his note-book or catalogue. Others advocate keeping the authentication separate with only a numbered reference on the egg itself. Eggs should not be transported in bran or sawdust, but in strong wool-lined boxes. The best cabinets are fitted with drawers, pulled out to inspect the eggs, but at other times closed to preserve them from the light, which is injurious to their delicate colouring. When an entire nest is taken it should be disinfected with hyposulphite of soda or insect-powder.
See Birdnesting and Bird-Skinning, by E. Newman (London, 1888); The Young Collector’s Handbook of British Birds’ Nests and Eggs, by W.H. Bath (London, 1888); Birds’ Nests, Eggs and Egg-Collecting, by R. Kearton (London, 1890); British Birds’ Eggs and Nests, by J.C. Atkinson (London, 1898); Nests and Eggs of North American Birds, by Ernest Ingersoll (1880-1881).
| Standard Wing Bird of Paradise (Semioptera wallacei). |
BIRDS OF PARADISE, a group of passerine birds inhabiting New Guinea and the adjacent islands, so named by the Dutch voyagers in allusion to the brilliancy of their plumage, and to the current belief that, possessing neither wings nor feet, they passed their lives in the air, sustained on their ample plumes, resting only at long intervals suspended from the branches of lofty trees by the wire-like feathers of the tail, and drawing their food “from the dews of heaven and the nectar of flowers.” Such stories obtained credence from the fact that so late as the year 1760, when Linnaeus named the principal species apoda, or “footless,” no perfect specimen had been seen in Europe, the natives who sold the skins to coast traders invariably depriving them of feet and wings. The birds now usually included under this name belong to the family Paradiseidae, closely allied to the crows. The largest is the great emerald bird (Paradisea apoda), about the size of the common jay. Its head and neck are covered with short thick-set feathers, resembling velvet pile, of a bright straw colour above, and a brilliant emerald green beneath. From under the shoulders on each side springs a dense tuft of golden-orange plumes, about 2 ft. in length, which the bird can raise at pleasure, so as to enclose the greater part of its body. The two centre tail feathers attain a length of 34 in., and, being destitute of webs, have a thin wire-like appearance. This splendid plumage, however, belongs only to the adult males, the females being exceedingly plain birds of a nearly uniform dusky brown colour, and possessing neither plumes nor lengthened tail feathers. The young males at first resemble the females, and it is only after the fourth moulting, according to A.R. Wallace, who has studied those birds in their native haunts, that they assume the perfect plumage of their sex, which, however, they retain permanently afterwards, and not during the breeding season only as was formerly supposed. At that season the males assemble, in numbers varying from twelve to twenty, on certain trees, and there disport themselves, so as to display their magnificent plumes in presence of the females. Wallace in his Malay Archipelago, vol. ii., thus describes the attitude of the male birds at one of those “sacaleli,” or dancing parties, as the natives call them; “their wings,” he says, “are raised vertically over the back, the head is bent down and stretched out, and the long plumes are raised up and expanded till they form two magnificent golden fans striped with deep red at the base, and fading off into the pale brown tint of the finely-divided and softly-waving points; the whole bird is then overshadowed by them, the crouching body, yellow head, and emerald green throat, forming but the foundation and setting to the golden glory which waves above.” It is at this season that those birds are chiefly captured. The bird-catcher having found a tree thus selected for a “dancing party,” builds a hut among the lower branches in which to conceal himself. As soon as the male birds have begun their graceful antics, he shoots them, one after the other, with blunt arrows, for the purpose of stunning and bringing them to the ground without drawing blood, which would injure their plumage; and so eager are those birds in their courtship that almost all the males are thus brought down before the danger is perceived. The natives in preparing the skins remove both feet and wings, so as to give more prominence to the commercially valuable tuft of plumes. They also remove the skull, and the skin is then dried in a smoky hut. The great emerald bird, so far as yet known, is only found in the Aru Islands. The lesser bird of paradise (Paradisea minor), though smaller in size and somewhat less brilliant in plumage, in other respects closely resembles the preceding species. It is also more common, and much more widely distributed, being found throughout New Guinea and the neighbouring islands. Its plumes are those most generally used as ornaments for ladies’ head-dresses. Both species are omnivorous, feeding voraciously on fruits and insects. They are strong, active birds, and are believed to be polygamous. The king bird of paradise (Cicinnurus regius) is one of the smallest and most brilliant of the group, and is specially distinguished by its two middle tail feathers, the ends of which alone are webbed, and coiled into a beautiful spiral disk of a lovely emerald green. In the red bird of paradise (Paradisea rubra) the same feathers are greatly elongated and destitute of webs, but differ from those in the other species, in being flattened out like ribbons. They are only found in the small island of Waigiu off the coast of New Guinea. Of the long-billed paradise birds the most remarkable is that known as the “twelve-wired” (Seleucides alba), its delicate yellow plumes, twelve of which are transformed into wire-like bristles nearly a foot long, affording a striking contrast to the dark metallic tints of the rest of its plumage.
(A. N.)
BIRDWOOD, SIR GEORGE CHRISTOPHER MOLESWORTH (1832- ), Anglo-Indian official and writer, son of General Christopher Birdwood, was born at Belgaum, in the Bombay presidency, on the 8th of December 1832. He was educated at Plymouth grammar-school and Edinburgh University, where he took his M.D. degree. Entering the Bombay Medical Service in 1854, he served in the Persian War of 1856-57, and subsequently became professor at the Grant Medical College, registrar of the university, curator of the museum, and sheriff at Bombay, besides acting as secretary of the Asiatic and Horticultural societies. His work on the Economic Vegetable Products of the Bombay Presidency reached its twelfth edition in 1868. He interested himself prominently also in the municipal life of the city, where he acquired great influence and popularity. He was obliged by ill-health in 1868 to return to England, where he entered the revenue and statistics department of the India Office (1871-1902). Whilst engaged there he published important volumes on the industrial arts of India, the ancient records of the India Office, and the first letter-book of the East India Company. He devoted much time and energy to the encouragement of Indian art, on various aspects of which he wrote valuable monographs, and his name was identified with the representation of India at all the principal international exhibitions from 1857 to 1901. (See Journal of Indian Art, vol. viii. “The Life and Work of Sir George Birdwood.”) His researches on the subject of incense (Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvii., 1871; Ency. Brit. 9th ed., “Incense,” 1881; revised for the present edition by him), a good example of his mastery of detail, have made his historical and botanical account of this subject a classic. Nor can his lifelong association with journalism of the best sort be overlooked. From boyhood he was a diligent contributor of special information to magazines and newspapers; in India he helped to convert the Standard into the Times of India, and edited the Bombay Saturday Review; and after his return to London he wrote for the Pall Mall, Athenaeum, Academy, and Times; and with Chenery, the editor of The Times, and others he took the initiative (1882) in celebrating the anniversary of Lord Beaconsfield’s death as “Primrose Day” (April 19). He kept up his connexion with India by constant contributions to the Indian press; and his long friendships with Indian princes and the leading educated native Indians made his intimate knowledge of the country of peculiar value in the handling of the problems of the Indian empire. In 1887 he was created a K.C.I.E.; and, besides being given his LL.D. degree by Cambridge, he was also made an officer of the Legion of Honour and a laureate of the French Academy.