them very beautiful, like the whydah bird. The sociable weavers are even more ingenious builders than the bowerbirds. They collect vegetable fibres and weave them round the branch of a tree. This forms the thatch, or roof of the dwelling. Underneath they make a great number of nests, where as many as three hundred birds may have their homes, all under the same roof. There they dwell together in peace, each pair of birds having their own nest and rearing their little ones.

THE WEAVER-BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS,

AND THE LITTLE JAVA SPARROWS

In the following year they make new nests. These they join on to the layers of nests made in the previous year. To do so they have to make the roof bigger, and in course of time, as layer after layer of nests is added, the huge structure looks like a thatched cottage. Finally it becomes so heavy that it breaks the bough of the tree upon which it is placed, and a fresh start on another branch or tree has to be made.

The Java sparrow, a favourite bird in our aviaries, which has grey wings, black head and tail, white cheeks and pink beak, is a type of weaver-bird. They are very sociable birds. In the house at which this story is written there is an aviary, where, among the birds, are two Java sparrows and two doves. The Java sparrows have not built nests; they always go to bed with the doves. The doves roost high up on a ledge of cork at the top of the aviary. One Java sparrow, when evening comes on, always perches itself on the shoulders of one of the doves, while its mate takes its place on the ledge of the cork, under the breast and between the legs of the second dove. There is no quarrelling about positions unless the doves are late in going to bed. Then the little birds chase their big bedfellows about, hop on to their shoulders and begin to peck them gently, or pluck at their feathers, as if to say, Come, come, it's past our bedtime.' THE

66

'HE LYRE-BIRD AND THE PEACOCK, THE BIRDS WITH BEAUTIFUL TAILS

The Java sparrows are not as gorgeous as their distant cousin, the whydah bird, but they are still handsome and very interesting. The white feathers on

their cheeks disappear as summer

advances, and the cheeks, neck and head are an unbroken black.

We have read already of some of the loveliest birds, like the pheasants. Now we come to another of the big beauties, the lyre-bird. It has a strikingly beautiful tail, shaped like the musical instrument called the lyre. Only the male bird has this, and not until he is four years old. The lyrebird has a gift for imitating the songs and cries of other birds. In that he has a decided advantage over our most famous tailed domestic bird, the peacock.

is.

Perhaps because it is a comparatively common bird in our parks and private gardens, we do not realise what a supremely beautiful bird the peacock No other bird has more perfectly coloured plumage, but in spite of that the peacock is a disagreeable bird, with a hoarse screech for its call, which can be heard far and near. In India, of which country it is a native, the cries of these birds, when assembled in hundreds in the woods, become almost intolerable to one who dislikes discordant sounds.

THE

HE STRANGE TOUCAN, AND THE HORNBILL WHICH BRINGS UP ITS YOUNG IN PRISON It is well for him that he is such a beauty in appearance, or the, peacock would never be tolerated in private life. When the courting season is over, his fine feathers disappear, and he slinks away until new ones grow. Then he comes out again in all his glory, proud as only a peacock knows how to be.

With all their splendour, some of the beauty birds, it must be admitted, are to be regarded as a little freakish, and some of them are not all that could be desired in their ways. Among the strange birds let us take first the handsome but queer toucan and the hornbill.

The toucan is a bird with a huge beak like a small pelican's, but not soft like that great fisherman's bag-net. It is notched like a saw, and as it is brightly coloured it gives the bird the strangest appearance. This beak is not so heavy as it looks, for it contains air-sacs which make it light. The hornbills share this advantage. They have big bills, with helmets of horn on the top, and these are lightened in the same way.

The hornbills are famous for a curious fact. When the female has laid her eggs in a hollow tree, the male makes a

THE BIRDS prisoner of her by plastering up the entrance, leaving only a small slit through which he can pass food for her and the young ones. She seems to assist in this. He does not let her and the family come out until the young ones are nearly full grown. The male bird, who has to find the food, is worn almost to a skeleton during this long time.

The king of the handsome climbers is undoubtedly the parrot. We cannot stay here to glance at the whole tribe, for, when we sort out the many forms of parrots, macaws, love-birds, and cockatoos, there are more than 500 species to deal with. The handsome little parrakeet which is so often seen in England has its home in Australia. The grey parrot is a native of West Africa. Macaws come mainly from the warm parts of America and from India. When wild the birds all eat fruit and seeds. One species, however, the kea, has become a flesh-eating bird. THE STRANGE STORY OF HOW THE KEA

BIRD CAME TO EAT SHEEP

This is one of the few instances of a bird's nature changing while actually under the observation of man. Nobody knows for certain what has caused it to change, but the kea has become a deadly enemy of the sheep-farmer in New Zealand. Its food had always been insects and fruit. One day, in 1869, a kea was found standing on the body of a dead sheep, tearing away at the wool. Such a thing had never before been known to happen. Ever since then the kea has been a bird of prey. The change could not have come as suddenly as that; the attacks of the kea must have been made before, but it had never been observed. Now two or three keas attack a sheep together, and by means of their long, cruel beaks they kill it. Then they peck open its body to reach the rich fat inside.

What could have brought about such a change? Some scientists believe that this may be the explanation: There is a curious growth in New Zealand which looks so much like a mass of wool that it is called the vegetable sheep. The kea, by pecking away at this, was able to find grubs and insects which it liked. Then it attacked real sheep in mistake for the vegetable sheep, and pecked away to

find its customary food until it reached food which it liked better. Since then it has remained a flesh-eater, and is the most deadly foe the sheep-farmer has.

THAMUN THE AUSTRALIAN WILDS

LAUGHING BIRD THAT MOCKS A

While we are thinking of Australasian birds, we must not forget the laughing jackass. This is a bird which could beat the parrot, or even the famous Indian starling-called the mynaat laughing. Parrots and mynas, as we all know, marvellously imitate human speech. Although they are very wise birds they do not understand what they are saying. The mewing of a cat, which they imitate perfectly, has no more meaning for them than a song which they may learn to sing. So the laughter of the laughing jackass has no meaning for the bird. It has a voice, and uses it in this way. It follows a man in the wilds where there are trees, and perches near him, chuckling and laughing all the night and every time he shows himself in the open.

The laughing jackass is really a kingfisher, belonging to a tribe of birds which has many species. They live in nearly every country. Most of them eat fish, which they catch by darting into the water; others live on insects and reptiles, and even rob nests of young. THE BEAUTIFUL KINGFISHER AND THE

BIRD WITH A NOTE LIKE A BELL

The English kingfisher is a beautiful bird, which at one time was very scarce, owing to thoughtless women wearing its plumage in their hats. It flies like a swallow over the water, then, when it sees a fish, dives down like a flash. It can hang in the air like a kestrel, and can drop into the water with the swiftness of a gannet. Some of the kingfishers are said to build their nests of the bones of fish which they have eaten. The kingfisher is one of the handsomest and most interesting of all English birds, and every bird-lover rejoices to know that its numbers in this country seem now to be on the increase.

We find more strange beauties among the family of birds called chatterers. The most striking is the umbrella-bird. This has a fine crest upon its head, and though the sides of its neck are naked, it possesses a lovely lappet composed of loose feathers hanging from beneath t}