Читать книгу Neighbors with Wings and Fins and Some Others, for Young People - James Johonnot - Страница 6
ОглавлениеSCRATCHERS OF OTHER LANDS.
"See! from the brake the whirring pheasant springs,
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings."
1. Next to the peacock the golden pheasant ranks as the most beautiful domestic bird. Its original home is in Asia, from which country come so many sunny, golden things. The ancient Grecian poets tell a story of a hero called Jason, who was promised a kingdom and a crown if he would bring a golden fleece from a place away on the coast of the Black Sea. So he sailed in his ship Argo with fifty comrades and captured the prize. Near where he found the golden fleece, at a river called Phasis, some of his companions found the golden pheasant, and they brought it back to Greece. From this beginning, it is supposed, the pheasant has spread over a large part of Europe.
2. With a small body, about the size of a half-grown chicken, the principal part of the golden pheasant appears to be its splendid clothes. Like an Eastern king, it is arrayed in purple and gold. Upon its head is a bright golden crest, in which each feather is tinged with velvety black. The plumage on its breast, shoulders, and sides is purple or dark blue, with streaks of gold. The long feathers are red, with eyes of golden yellow. Its tail is nearly two feet in length, and its movement is soft and graceful.
3. The daily life of this bird is much like that of the grouse. It loves the tangled wood, where it picks and scratches for insects. The mother-bird is careless about her nest and her young. Sometimes she crushes and eats her own eggs, and another hen must be borrowed to hatch and brood the chicks. The hen-pheasant, though clothed in a more sober dress than that of her mate, when she has grown too old to lay eggs, changes her plumage and becomes gorgeous like him.
The Argus Pheasant.
4. Even more showy than the golden pheasant is the Argus pheasant. Its colors are not so brilliant, but they are more delicately marked. The head is deep black, and the feathers of the rest of the body are variegated with different shades of yellow, brown, red, and gray. The wings are large and broad, like fans, and are adorned with covers of mixed brown, red, and yellow, and are dotted over with large, shining round spots or eyes. Among the fabled characters of the ancient Greeks Argus was famous for his hundred eyes. The Argus pheasant is so called because of the multitude of eyes on its wings.
5. In ancient times, when Croesus, the richest king, was seated on his throne in royal robes, and in great pomp, he asked Solon, the wise man of Greece, if he had ever seen anything so fine. Solon replied that, having seen the beautiful plumage of the pheasant, he could not be surprised by any other splendor that might be presented to him.
6. Among the scratchers of other lands the mound-bird is the most remarkable. A small bird, about the size of a female pheasant, it is modest and shy in its dress of sober brown and red. The story of its work would read like a fable were we not obliged to believe the reports of truthful men. Weighing scarcely more than two pounds, the mound-bird builds by the sea-side in Australia its home, a hill ten feet high and sixty feet in circumference at the base.
7. How the mound-bird raises so large a hill is not certainly known. Its feet, which are immense for so small a bird, are evidently intended for heavier work than scratching; and it has been seen hopping along on one foot, while in the other claw it carried a large bunch of grass. It seems as if a single pair or generation of these birds could not possibly perform so great a task.
Brush-Turkeys and their Egg-Mounds.
8. Strange as it may seem, this mound is the bird's nest. In the top a hole is made which is packed with grass and leaves, mixed with earth. Here are laid eight large white eggs, which are set on end and left to be warmed by the heat that comes from the decay of the litter of which the nest is made. Only the male bird is sent occasionally to open the nest and stir the litter, so as to let in the air and regulate the heat. Wonderful bird!
The Lyre-Bird.
9. At the proper period the young birds are hatched. Not with soft down and tender skin, like other youngsters of the bird kind, but full-feathered and strong. And out of this temple of their nativity they find their way to the light; and, having dried themselves in the sun, they enter upon life's duties and sports without help.
10. You can see how the lyre-bird of Australia gets its name. The music of the bird is not in its throat, but in the form of its tail, which is that of a musical instrument called the lyre. Though beautiful, the lyre-bird is not proud, but shy and retiring, and exceedingly swift of foot. It is difficult to capture or even to get sight of it. Sometimes it is decoyed by the hunter, who, among the bushes, wears one of the beautiful tails on his hat.
