28. Speckled Mousebird Once you know it, you can recognise this bird by its flight: whirring wings, often quite low, the tail long out behind, and often an untidy crash-landing. They’re mousey in colour, about the size of a large mouse, and move along the branches like mice. Untidiness is a word that springs to mind with these birds: the rough brown crest often looks uncombed and the tail bedraggled and scruffy, the feathers lying every which way. They live on eating leaves. Leaves, in fact, are not easy to digest unless, like ruminant animals, you can grind them up with good strong teeth and a set of good strong jaws. But teeth and jaws are just what birds gave up, long ago, when some smaller dinosaurs took to the air. Teeth and jaws are heavy, and birds’ bones are hollow, given what strength they have by the intricate latticing structure inside: they’ve got to be as light as possible. These mousebird guys, though, know a trick or two: they sit on a branch, bellies exposed to the warm sun, allowing it to hasten the process of fermentation that breaks down the fibrous substance of their food – solar-powered digestion. Birds of AFRICAMA House 60 Birds of AFRICAMA House 61