An Australian Bird Book Part 29

Australia is well represented in Order XVIII.--Picarian Birds. The Tawny Frogmouth is one of "the most peculiar," and is the "ugliest of birds." On account of its wide mouth, it is called the Frogmouth, and on account of the confusion connecting it with the b.o.o.book Owl, which calls "Mopoke," this bird is also called the "Mopoke" (see p. 85).

It so closely mimics a broken branch during the day that it is seldom seen, though it is fairly common.

Gould bears eloquent testimony to the value of Australian birds in general, and the _Podargus_ in particular, when he says: "In no other country is there a greater proportion of insectivorous birds, and certainly none in which nocturnal species such as the Podargi are more numerous."

The Australian Roller (Dollar-Bird) has the family beauty, and has a white circular patch on each wing, which shows clearly when the wing is expanded during flight. At the Tallangatta excursion a pair was working even after dusk near the schoolground. Flying from the topmost dead branch, one bird suddenly closed its wings, and cut queer antics in the air. After flying a considerable distance, it returned to its former perch, and the mate set off. On the return of the mate the first set off again, and so on. With their disagreeable, rough "treek treek," and peculiar antics, they are conspicuous birds. It is our one representative of a family most strongly developed in Africa.

While Kingfishers are cosmopolitan (world-wide in distribution), yet the Australian region contains far more of these beautiful birds than any other region. They are famous in legend and story, and we owe to them the expression, "halcyon days" (Gr. _alkuon_, a Kingfisher).

The great terrestrial Kingfishers, of which Australia has three species--the fourth being confined to New Guinea--are amongst the avine curiosities of Australia. Few birds are more famous than the Laughing Kingfisher (Jacka.s.s), first, on account of his gigantic size--hence his specific name, _gigas_--and, secondly, because of his laugh, which brightens many a gloomy, misty day in lonely country districts. Homesick travellers from foreign lands could only hear evil spirits laughing at their trials and loneliness, but, just as mountains, once thought ugly, are now considered beautiful, so other thoughts are now a.s.sociated with the laugh of our remarkable Australian Kingfisher.

True to the law of representatives, Australia presents us with a beautiful representative of the Old World family of Bee-eaters. A writer has well said that there are "few so beautiful, and none so graceful." Its scientific name, _ornatus_, shows that our bird stands well amongst its fellows. One kind occasionally visits England (about thirty records in the last hundred years).

In the same order come the Goatsuckers, or Nightjars, wide-mouthed, swift-flying, insectivorous birds, which have an almost cosmopolitan range, being absent only from New Zealand and the Polynesian Islands.

These Owl-like birds have very long wings, thus indicating their rapid flight. They are very valuable insect destroyers, though they are sometimes called "Night Hawks," and are shot by people who foolishly shoot hawks. Many destructive insects fly only at night, and these night-flying birds are a necessity to maintain the balance of Nature.

Swifts are cosmopolitan birds. One Swiftlet is world-famous on account of its saliva-built nest, which is the edible swallows' nest we used to read about. This bird occasionally visits Queensland. Two of the Australian birds breed in j.a.pan. They are essentially creatures of the air; their long, pointed wings, shown much longer than the tail, indicate great speed. Gould said that a Swift might be hawking for insects over Victoria one hour, and over Tasmania the next hour; that is, it can cross Ba.s.s Strait in an hour. The spines at the end of the short tail feathers are thought to a.s.sist as a prop when the bird settles on a wall or a cliff face. In some Swifts the four toes point forward; this helps also in cliff clinging. Though so common in the upper air, Swifts have not, in Victoria, been recorded as having been seen to alight.

Most birds have hollow bones which are filled with air. It was claimed by those who like to find a use for everything that this was an obvious adaptation for purposes of flight, but when one reflects that, in some of the Ostrich and Emu group, the members of which never fly, the bones are strongly "pneumatic," while in Terns and Swifts, and some other flying birds, the bones are solid, one must hesitate before generalizing even about such an apparently obvious matter. Swifts are in no way related to Swallows, but are close to Humming Birds, which are born with a wide, Swift-like mouth.

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[Ill.u.s.tration: [217] [218] [219] [220] [221] [222]]

ORDER XVIII.--CORACIIFORMES, PICARIAN BIRDS.

F. 78. _Steatornithidae_, Oil-Bird, Guacharo, 1 sp. Nl.

F. 79. PODARGIDAE (6), FROGMOUTHS, 32 sp.--20(20)A., 12(12)O.

4 7

=217 Tawny Frogmouth= (Tawny-shouldered), Mopoke (e), _Podargus strigoides_, A.T.

Stat. c. _open forest_ 18

Upper brown freckled grayish-white and darker-brown; wings lighter, spotted black and buff; tawny patch on wing; tail tawny-brown barred blackish-brown; wide bill brown; nocturnal; f., sim. Insects. "Oom, oom."

2 13

=218 Owlet Nightjar= (Little), Banded Goatsucker (e), Moth Owl (e), _aegotheles novae-hollandiae_, A., T.

Stat. r. _timber_ 8.5

Blackish-gray; tail faintly banded; obscure collar; short, wide bill; bristles round bill; nocturnal; f., sim. Insects, mosquitoes, moths.

F. 80. _Leptosomatidae_, Kirombos, Madagascar Rollers, 2 sp.

E.

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F. 81. CORACIIDAE (1), ROLLERS, 32 sp.--5(5)A., 6(3)O., 3(0)P., 22(21)E.

1 11

=219* Australian Roller=, Dollar (Star) Bird, _Eurystomus pacificus_, Cel., Mol., A. exc. S.A., W.A., Lord Howe Is., N.Z.

Mig. r. _timber_ 12

Head, upper dark-brown; inner-wing bluish, outer-wing dark-blue with a silvery-blue patch (dollar); throat dark-blue; eyelash, wide curved bill, feet red; many shades of blue and green; abdomen light-green; f., sim. Insects.

F. 82. ALCEDINIDAE (14), KINGFISHERS, 200 sp.--112(105)A., 52(44)O., 5(0)P., 31(30)E., 3(0)Nc., 11(8)Nl.

3 7

=220* Blue Kingfisher= (Azure, Water, River), _Alcyone azurea_, E.A., S.A., T.

Mig. r. _water_ 8

Upper ultramarine-blue; behind ear yellowish-white patch; wings black; throat whitish; under rusty-orange; bill black; f., sim. Fish, insects.

3 4

=221* Laughing Kingfisher= (Great Brown, Giant), Laughing Jacka.s.s, Bushman's (Settler's) Clock, Kookaburra, _Dacelo gigas_, E.A., S.A.

Stat. v.c. _timber_ 17.5

Upper, line from bill past eye brown; side-head, under whitish; blue, white spots on wing; tail barred brown, black, tipped white; f., sim. Lizards, insects, snakes.

6 71

=222 Red-backed Kingfisher= (Golden), _Halcyon pyrrhopygius_, A. (interior).

r. _open country_ 8

Back, rump reddish-brown; collar, under white; crown dull-green streaked white; dark band from bill through eye round back of head; wings, tail bluish; f., sim. Fish, insects.

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=223* Sacred Kingfisher= (Wood, Forest, Tree), _H. sanctus_, Cel., Java to A., T., N. Heb.

Mig. c. _timber_, _near water_ 8

Head, upper greenish-blue; whitish collar; buffy-white under; bill long black; f., sim. Insects, ants, lizards, fish.