48 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



another, until the whole household had been visited and 

 bid "Good-morning." Afterwards, when all were up, 

 it would attach itself to some one member of the family 

 and follow him or her about most of the day. The 

 trumpeter loved and took an interest in every one of 

 the house, including the stranger within the gates, but 

 was specially devoted to one or two individuals. 



It is right to remember that this beautiful disposition 

 of the trumpeter and all its pretty actions have not been 

 acquired through companionship with human beings: 

 they are mere survivals of its own wild life in the forest 

 with its own fellows, and possibly with birds of other 

 species with which it associates. At all events, I have 

 heard of cases in which a tame trumpeter, in a country 

 house in Brazil or Venezuela, where fowls and birds of 

 various kinds were kept and allowed to roam about at 

 will, placed himself in charge of the others, attending 

 them at their feeding grounds, keeping watch, giving 

 the alarm at the approach of danger, and bringing or 

 hunting them home at roosting-time. 



If my reader happens not to be of those who regard 

 a bird merely as a creature to be taken and destroyed 

 for man's pleasure or for the decoration of his women, 

 who like a lovely hat to match the lovely spirit within, 

 I trust that he will not think that these be tall stories 

 about a wise grey goose in grey north lands and a 

 benevolent trumpeter in the tropics, for then he will 

 perhaps say that the story I have got to tell in conclu- 

 sion is taller still. 



It is a common fact in natural history that the males 



