Blushing Birds 



that causes the change I cannot say ; it may be 

 an uneasy conscience, for the cause of the change 

 of colour does not seem so obvious in this species 

 as in the more simple-minded birds of the galli- 

 naceous tribe. 



To show what sort of mind the caracara actually 

 has, I may mention that a bird of this species kept 

 in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, next door to 

 a very greedy imperial eagle, would habitually 

 take any extra tit-bit he received quite close to 

 the partition, and eat it there in obvious enjoy- 

 ment of the baffled gluttony of his neighbour, 

 although he ran considerable personal risk in 

 so doing. Indeed, he was ultimately moved 

 farther on, and placed next door to a peaceful 

 turkey-buzzard, lest his incurable malice should 

 bring him to grief at the claws of outraged 

 aquiline majesty. 



Most people would look to the parrots for 

 examples of the nearest possible approach to 

 humanity amongst the birds, and it is interesting 

 to find that among these also the phenomenon of 

 blushing occurs. One species which exhibits it is 

 the extraordinary great black cockatoo (Aficro- 

 glossum aterrimuni) of New Guinea, a curious 

 being with a portentous head and beak, and a 

 puny body clad in plumage of a shabby black. 

 Its face, unlike that of any other cockatoo, is 

 quite bare and of a flesh-colour like human skin. 



221 



