. Birds I have kept in years gone by : with original anecdotes and full directions for keeping them successfully . aunts, would dash themselves blindly against the wire fencesurrounding the field, and with such violence that they oftenkilled themselves hj fracturing their neck or breastbone. Thesebirds are also frequently killed by flying, during the migratoryseason, against telegraph wires, and the lanterns of reason of this apparent stupidity on the part of an other-wise intelligent bird is that their eyes are placed so far backin the head that they cannot see anything that i
. Birds I have kept in years gone by : with original anecdotes and full directions for keeping them successfully . aunts, would dash themselves blindly against the wire fencesurrounding the field, and with such violence that they oftenkilled themselves hj fracturing their neck or breastbone. Thesebirds are also frequently killed by flying, during the migratoryseason, against telegraph wires, and the lanterns of reason of this apparent stupidity on the part of an other-wise intelligent bird is that their eyes are placed so far backin the head that they cannot see anything that is directlyin front of them without turning the head, so that whenfrightened, or in a hurry, they are apt to come with thefull force of their extremely powerful flight against any andevery obstacle that lies in their way. This chapter would scarcely be complete without somereference to the enormous flights of these birds that servedto fetd the wandering Israelites in the desert of Sinai, where,even in the present day, they are met with in large flocksduring their passage from Africa to a milder climate for the. The Starling. 96 breeding season, as well as when returning home again. Whensettled down into their summer locations, these birds divideoff into little companies of one male and two or three females,though sometimes they pair male and female together: duringthis period the cocks fight fiercely among themselves, andnot a seraglio is formed without a pitched battle or twotaking place among the rival suitors. In China and India advantage is taken of the pugnaciousdisposition of these birds during the breeding season, to trainthem for fighting matches, as was formerly done in Englandwith game cocks; and large sums of money are not unfre-quently staked upon the issue of an encounter; which isarranged as follows:—a number of people match their ownQuails against an equal number of these birds belonging toothers of their acquaintance; the victors in this preliminarycontest are
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectcagebir, bookyear1885
