Ornithological and Other Oddities 



deer's. I found, when I had a bird of this kind 

 under observation, that at first he would always 

 blush and let down his wattle when he was shown 

 a looking-glass, in a most ridiculously human 

 way. As with the turkey, any sort of emotion 

 appeared to bring on the blush and expansion 

 of dewlap in this bird, but his speaking counte- 

 nance was wasted on a common bantam hen 

 assigned him as a companion, for she never 

 seemed to appreciate his devotion as she might 

 have done. His dignified attitude of courtship, 

 however, enabled me to see that the absurd 

 pirouettings of the barnyard rooster before his 

 chosen mate are simply a slurring over of the 

 more stately and pheasant-like slanted posturings 

 of the wild bird, whose mates probably exact 

 more ceremony and attention from their partner. 

 It is rather a far cry ornithologically from the 

 poultry kind to their hereditary foes, the birds of 

 prey, but here also we find this human peculiarity 

 of countenance, strangely out of place as it may 

 seem. There is probably no worse rascal in 

 feathers than the caracara hawk or carancho 

 of South America {Polyborus brasiliensis\ who 

 exhibits the combined villainy of crow and kite, 

 with a few touches of his own. Yet this bird's 

 bare face, as may be seen at the Zoological 

 Gardens, will change from pale yellow to bright 

 pink and back again. What the emotion may be 



