69. Red Cheeked Cordon-Bleu Birds, as everyone knows, live in trees. But this ‘common knowledge’ has too many exceptions. Some birds live all their lives on the ground and never set foot in trees (ostriches), others – apart from a brief period on the ground to breed – live, eat, and sleep on the wing (albatrosses). Most of the others do, of course, spend time in trees, especially if you count bushes as trees. But even among these, not all types of trees are equally attractive to different kinds of bird. And in any case, different species use different parts of the tree: some love to sit right on the topmost tip, while others wouldn’t be seen dead up there but always lurk as far as possible within. The lovely little Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu will mostly be seen on the ground in groups, sometimes composed of mixed species of small ground feeding seed-eaters, softly calling swii swii swii to each other as they go busily about their business. Cordon-bleu means literally ‘blue ribbon’ and at one time referred to the highest order of chivalry in Bourbon France, but now means a highly qualified cook. Why is it the name of this bird? I’ve no idea. Birds of AFRICAMA House 142 Birds of AFRICAMA House 143