282 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

migrating to the southern counties in the early winter. The
Pipits, of which “The Meadow Pipit” and the Tree Pipit
are the best known varieties, are found all over the British
Isles as well as in many parts of Europe.
The Ant- The fourth division of the perching birds desig-
Haters. pated by Mr. Wallace, the Ant-Eaters, includes
a large number of American varieties, which space forbids
us even to enumerate. One or two must suffice.
The King The King Bird or Tyrant Fly-catcher of North
Bird. America is small, but of a fearless disposition,
attacking hawks, crows, and other larger birds, and generally
having the best of the battle. The upper part of its body
is black and the lower of a delicate white. Its song is a
shrill twittering “resembling the jingling of a bunch of keys.”
It belongs to the family of the Tyrant Shrikes or Tyrannide.
It is during the time of incubation that it shows so much
ferocity. Wilson says, “I have seen the red-headed wood-
pecker while clinging on a rail of the fence, amuse himself
with the violence of the king bird, and play ‘bo-peep’ with
him round the rail, while the latter, highly irritated, made
every attempt, as he swept from side to side, to strike him,
but in vain. All his turbulence subsides as soon as his young
are able to shift for themselves, and he is then as mild and
peaceable as any other bird.”
The The Chatterers, or Cotingide include among
Ghatterers. them, the Cock of the Rock, one of the most
beautiful of South-American birds. Resembling a pigeon in
size, its head is sufficiently like that of the farm-yard cock
to account for its name, which is also made to indicate the
nature of its haunts. Its coat is a warm saffron yellow and
its crest resembles a fan. Siz Robert Schomburgh says:
“While traversing the Kikiritze mountains in Guiana, we
saw a number of that most beautiful bird, the cock-of-the-
rock, or Rock Manakin (rupicola elegans), and I had an op-
portunity of witnessing an exhibition of some of its very