154 JUNGLE ISLAND 



two central tail feathers were trimmed part way 

 along the shafts, leaving only a tennis-racket-Hke 

 end about an inch long on a bare handle the 

 same length. These two feathers grow out three 

 inches longer than the rest of the tail, which, as 

 the picture shows, is otherwise an ordinary tail. 



After every molt the motmot carefully trims 

 off the shaft of the new long feathers. It does 

 this even if it is taken from the nest when young 

 and is never allowed to see other birds trimming 

 their tails. The part that is trimmed off is 

 weaker than the rest of the feather. Why do 

 they do it? No one knows. Perhaps for the 

 same reason that makes men shave their beards 

 and girls bob their hair. 



Here, too, I found the red-headed and the 

 yellow-headed manakins. These are tiny black- 

 bodied birds whose color pattern is so broken 

 that they look like patches of sunhght in the 

 bushes and are not so easily seen as one would 

 imagine from their gay heads. A yellow-headed 

 manakin had built a nest on the fern-topped 

 stump in Gatun Lake pictured in the second 

 chapter (page 33). She shared the pretty spot 

 with a swarm of stingless bees. 



Along the trail I caught my only glimpse of 

 the snow-hooded bell bird, whose isong, like the 

 dropping of water on tin, I had heard when I 

 first came to the island. His dull-colored mate 

 and young were more often seen. 



