Show rEA FLOOKS heir their curious traits as told by a A pretty legend about cinches finches Fin ches clies you want to write an article about birds said ferdinand the naturalist alitt connected with wood wards garden gardens to a san F francisco examiner reporter wellcome around with me and ill show you the largest collection to be found on this coast of course we have not many live varieties but you can call of the beauties ot of the ille feathered tribe by seeing their theiry stuffed remains as we have to take the tho greatest caro care to preserve them true tru to nature I 1 will show you the parrots first antiey as they alethe are the moa intelligent this one 11 point pointing ing to an looking bird with grayish plumage is the guacho or bight parrot they congregate in millions iu in the grotto of cariffe in colombia and lly fly about at night they are sought for eagerly on oil account of their extreme ex treille fatness the fat is dried out and used for cooking and also for oil the mexican double yellow head BO so named from the yellow patch on the top tp of the head beadi which increases in size size at each molting bolting mol ting arc the most easily trained males and females differ so little in in appearance pe arance that it is a difficult matter for any one but an experienced person to td determine their sex they rarely raise young in in captivity and therefore nearly all the talking pets are necess necessarily arili foreigners the gray parrots arc are natives of africa and are noted whistler whistlers but on account of the long voyage 11 by sea FC it ii is difficult to obtain a purely healthy one it is a curious fact that parrots will learn iauch faster from froin women and children than from men raiq y have their likes and dislikes es and seldom change their first impression pres siou of a person what is considered to be lle the tile most costly species of birds in ill existence well that is hard bard to say here liere is is a pigeon which is the re presenta tive of the extinct dodo it canies conies from froin the navigator islands and has a bill like the great auk an englishman li brought a live specimen bete two years ago and offered ered to sell it for but could not obtain a purchaser it was afterward taken to london and the zoological garden became its possessor pol sessor on the payment of 1500 the bird i h the sacred ibis of the islanders and they will not capture or kill it under any circumstances circum atances here is a six shaft cd ed bird of paradise from new G guinea aln i you can get 2000 for a live healt healthy liy one just look at the wonderful whalebone filaments extending ox tending down the back and ending in in a spiral coil of soft feathers it is i s hard bard to say why nature pro vided aided them wilb such appendages it may haye baye been for the purpose of by balancing alicina when they fly which do to you consider the most remarkable bird in your collection the african jacana there is a peculiarity about it which I 1 presume not one out of 1000 people who come hero here ever notices just look at atit it it is about eighteen inches high and has long legs like a crane pay particular attention to the toes do you tee ace how long they are n nearly early four inches they walk on the big leaves water flowers and catch the fish flies and insects that fly within their reach and just look at the wings said mr gruber in an ecstacy of professional fess ional enthusiasm do you eee see those hooks attached grown into the bone you could hardly 9 guess tien what they are used for so I 1 I 1 will tell you Wb whenever enever a snake comes near the tile bird ho he flaps his wings and cuts and tears the reptile through and through the largest a species decies is called the spur wing tt it has hooks on its wings an all inch in length and conall an kill the largest serpent let me see tho the greatest fighter among th the a birds asked the reporter hero here he lie is bathe abe white heron au audubon dubon called him the warrior and he lie had bad good reason to do so as he nearly lost it his is life in trying to capture one it has a a as its a sword and will run it through a mans body on the slightest provocation the ruff neck sand piper is the prize fighter in ornithology in III breeding season they r will fight until they die for their r mates no two are ali alike ke in plumage here ia ii a rare bird the albino crow the tile largest bird is the condor many of them are found in the santa cruz mountains and further south there a bird that is nicknamed solomon salomon because it is eo so wise thero there is a black vulture known as the gallinazo a native of the isthmus of Pa panama narna which hag has a je joe for wisdom but I 1 will not vouch for I 1 he lie truth ortho of the story about it ono one see seeg it everywhere perched on oil heaps of refuse and doing great service as a scavenger sc avell it ia is of uniform black but ita its head and neck arc are entirely d devoid of feathers the inhabitants ts of panama eay say that the gallinazo had feathers on its head once after the deluge noah on releasing the animals from the ark pave gave them some good advice my child he said to the tile galliazzo gal gl lianzo when you sec 1 a man mail coming toward you and stooping steeping down go away from him im ho he Is 13 getting a ft stone to throw at you very good eaid said the tile bird i but what if ho lie has one already in in his pocket the query so excite excited il the admiration of noah that lio lie decided in future the gallinazo should bo be born bald in token of his remarkable sagacity which has the reputation for the greatest vanity the tile bower bird without ques quest tion they are so called because they construct an arbor or bower of twigs not for nest but tu to play in tile arrange arrangement of the tile twigs is euch such that forks nearly meet at the tot top forming an avenue arched overtop As soon as it is finished the pair fly all about band gather up every bright and pretty thin thing they can find and deposit it on oil ta alie ground as a decoration to their playhouse bits of ribbon glassware parrit feath feathers rs fand tid t even bon bones ary are distributed sit i the ground and anti when they have embellished tho the place to their hearts lie arts content they strut aad gaze and chirp at each other nil all the world like the members of a futua mutual t admiration debating club the umbrella tun brella bird is a little vain it is a native odthe of the tropics and a chatterer see gee the canopy offeit offen hers covering the head to protect it frum the heat beat the red footed tal is a curio curious T species it comes from new api guinea and is remarkable for the kizo ficzo ot of the tile nest it raises a mound from ten tell to fifteen feet in length and the female deposits its c ggs in holes which arc are scratched out ot of tho the top alter after the eggs arc are deposited the holes arc aro filled up when the young arc are hatched they dig their way out by means menns ofa of a horn on tho the back of tho the head with which they up the earth to what ag age e do birds live the eagle in all likelihood at ati bains the tile greatest grea tet longevity I 1 have seen one in vienna in the zoological Gardens su which aich was there years ears parrots are also long lied lived birds and owls and anti magpie live to quite an old age the smallest eagle in ill tile world is the dwarf of the alp and the tiniest tinie t owl is tile pigmy of california Cali forDia what are recognized as the prettiest species hummingbird humming 0 bird birds aro are the jewels of ornithology ornit bolo gy they arc are of every ever color and tint thit except rose az and e comprise 0 m pris ic so sortie ahe five hundred varie varied ties t i 1 s they are from an in inch to fly biye e inches in length the different lerent diff species arc are classified by their feet and bills bill tho the prettiest is the ruby crowned from brazil the dingers gingers of the universe are tho tile thrushes and the E european european nightingale there is a pretty legend about the tile cross billed finch which I 1 will tell you you see said he lie pointing to a caso case containing a couple of the birds re referred forred to their bills are crossed just as s if you aeto to place the middle fingers of tho the hands over the forefingers and androu you will notice that one of these eilbes finches li lias as liis his bill crossed to the right and lind the theother other to th the eleft left tho the story storys is that when our savior was crucified led the fin fincha clice camo came in flocks and aith th their bills pulled ou out t tho nails it nom n r om his hands and feet here ii is another rare species the lyre bird which makes a noise like a saw and dances around to music the king fisher makes a noise like liken a donkey and is dubbed the laughing jackass it is a deadly enemy to snakes Is eliere there a good variety of birds i in california oh ob yes there Ther earo arc dome five hundred species epe cies tho tile california californi 0 quail is as fine flue as there is is in in axis exis j bece and many of our smaller birt birds s will compare favorably with those anywhere |