Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/124

Rh regions still more inhospitable, which we may conjecture to be those cold and arid plains of great elevation, which occupy the central portion of Asia, or the bleak and barren wilds of northern Siberia.

The Silk-tail is somewhat less than a Thrush; its general plumage is of a vinous or purplish-red hue; the throat is deep black, as is a band on each side of the head; the crown and crest are chestnut brown; the tail and wings are black with yellow tips; the coverts have white tips; some five or six of the secondaries, and, in very old males, some of the tail-feathers also, have the dilated, scarlet appendages to the shafts already alluded to.

The Prince of Canino thus speaks of the habits of this pretty bird. "Besides their social disposition, and general love of their species, these birds appear susceptible of individual attachment, as if they felt a particular sentiment of benevolence, even independent of reciprocal sexual attraction. Not only do the male and female caress and feed each other, but the same proofs of mutual kindness have been observed between individuals of the same sex. This amiable disposition, so agreeable for others, often becomes a serious disadvantage to its possessor. It always supposes more sensibility than energy, more confidence than penetration, more simplicity than prudence, and precipitates these as well as nobler victims, into the snares prepared for them by more artful and selfish beings. Hence they are stigmatized as stupid; and as they keep generally close together, many are easily killed at once by a single discharge of a gun. They always alight on trees, hopping awkwardly on the ground. Their flight