The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-05-21
BIRD L,rE m ,Moo.oAlsA.
A Stroll into the Country with sAs
THERMOMETER ssDown" to Eighty.
Seven In the shade-An End.
Lees Variety OF Feathery

less Variety Of Feathery
Creatures.
In most Of the we'll watered countries
between India and China you may see
moro wild birds In an hour than are to
bs seen in England IN = whole day. AT
about in the afternoon. when the
thermometer has gone down Eyes. down.
to 81 or 80 in the shade. you may take
up-not your gun. great Buddha forbid!
but your umbrella and walk. You will
now have a good two hours for your
stroll; but You must deduct out Of il
half an hour or more for resting and
lettering on the way. Luckily, you
soon begin to fill your notebook,
material or mental. On almost the
first tree or blank wall you will find q
big black crow, which. SO far from fec
ing before you. cranes his ugly head
forward and squawks with resentful
cav as you make bold to stare at him.
Do not use bad language in return; for
this ill-looking knave is one of the
scavengers of the neighborhood, COB
bler-up of the Thousand and one scraps
of garbage with which the Indo- Chinese
people strew the ground. So is that
much more energetic and happy-look-
ing creature the brown crow, which you
see perpctually circling and sailing
about. with the dark tips Of his wings
held strait out like five broad fingers.
and his gray, well-bred looking head
pointing downward as he floats lightly
on. So are the kites. which soar more
restlessly abovc-vainly attempting to
excel in their gyrations the freaks Of
the paper kites flown by Buddhist boys
and girls. There is still more hide
Gus scavenger at no great distance. If
you cast Il glance at the trees found
some sacred Enclosure, you will see one
or more of them sitting, gaunt, grim,
and sulky. with shoulders hunched up,
and smooth bare neck contrasting with
the dirty rutfied feathers of their heavy
bodies. Better not to inquire as to the
nature of the feast they make within
those walls.
In the bushes. as you walk along, a
merry concert is kept up. Louder
than ever is the perennial .'Chcw-ee-
90" which all day long has been din
ned into your ears through the open
window. If you peep over the palisade
of suburban garden, you may see the
singer of this wcll-known song. the
nok-kin-crao or rice-eater. On the
well-watered turf he takes his after
noon promenade sleek, well-fed
creature, striding boldly along. The
white and black of his body, and wings,
are distributed in almost equal proper
tions. But his legs and feet are mud
dy yellow. there is an orange patch
round his eye, and his long bone-color-
cd beak has blotch of bright vermil-
ion at its base. Mingling with his per-
sistent cry come now the chuckling and
chirping of a legion of small creatures
the wrens. tits. thrushes, warblers,
and black birds of the east, all unlike
ours in something or another. all in
tent, like Orientals. on their own affairs.
and caring rs little for the passing
stranger as they suppose that he can
care about them. Most of these are
dull-looking little fellows, in black,
brown. gray, and greenish tints. It is
not worth while to stop and watch
them. Still, there are two or three lit
tie chatterers which it is Impossible to
leave unnoticed. First, a brisk lively
little fellow, with jetty plumage picked
out with snowy white. Daintily he
struts along, looking as fresh as paint
and as spruce as an old black cock in
June. With each couple of strides his
black head and bcak bob forward, after
the fashion of water-wagtail; and If
ter each pause in his run keen glance
round is accompanied by magpie-like
twitching upward of his black and white
tail. You may 60 up within dozen
yards of him; but on nearer approach
ne hits ON, showing to full advantage
the bright magpie plumage of his back
and wings. Then there is another still
smaller magpie. less obtrusive, but per-
haps quite as attractive to the idler
from the coquettish way in which he
skips about among the thorn-bushes.
Dark green on the back, and with tiny
fast-moving wings. he shows as he
jumps about quite a bewildcring sue
cession of white and black. Throat of
cream color contrasts wildly with crown
of jet black and collar of the same; and
as he dives downward he displays be-
hind n great spreading. bushy-looking
tail, in which the outer feathers are pur-
pie black, edged with broad snowy tips
ranged en- cclelon ON either side. This
is nok-pit-tip; and in the.self-same bush,
but on the outermost twig instead of
the innermost, is Observation-Disclosures
and ARREST of ay-catchers, with delicate
green back, slender rufous beak and
head, and telescope tail, of which the
straw.like feathers look almost trans