Heads and Necks 



273 



partly bare, ornamentation often takes the form of many- 

 shaped and often highly coloured wattles, such as we see 

 highh' developed in a King Vulture. 



The most common example of this is seen in a domestic 

 rooster or a turkey, but in many other birds these wat- 

 tles of skin are very brilliant in hue. Indeed the casso- 

 waries are resplendent in their gorgeous hues of blue, yel- 

 low, red, and many other intermediate shades. Turkeys 

 too, at the breeding season, develop bright colours. 

 The Yucatan Wild Turkey, which has thus far resisted 

 all attempts at domestication, has the bright blue naked 

 skin of the head, dotted with tubercles of the most bril- 

 liant orange, while a long tube-like wattle, also tipped 

 with orange, dangles down over the beak. The wattles, 

 or caruncles, of the Bell Bird are interesting as being con- 

 nected wath the windpipe in such a way that they become 

 inflated with air when the bird utters its wonderful note. 



In the White Ibis the face only is bare, in the spoon- 

 bill the head and face, and the whole head and neck in 

 the Marabou Stork; the effect of this condition in the 

 latter bird being heightened by the enormous pouch 

 which hangs suspended from the neck. The same is true 

 of the Adjutant. 



A close inspection of the neck of one of these storks 

 will show that, while ordinary feathers are absent, there 

 is a scanty covering, here and there, of what looks like soft, 

 curling ringlets of chestnut hair. The resemblance is 

 absolutel}' perfect, and no naturalist in the world, if shown 

 one of these locks, would say that it came from a bird 

 and not from one of the hair-covered mammals ! 



