QUILL— QUIT 761 



the species, and were so highly prized by the natives prior to the 

 Spanish conquest that no one was allowed to kill the bird when 

 taken, but only to divest it of its feathers, which were to be worn 

 by the chiefs alone. These plumes, the middle and longest of 

 which may measure from three feet to three feet and a half, are with 

 the upper surface, the throat and chest, of a resplendent golden- 

 green,^ while the lower parts are of a vivid scarlet. The middle 

 feathers of the tail, ordinarily concealed, as are those of the Pea- 

 cock, by the uropygials, are black, and the outer white with a black 

 base. In the hen the bill is black, the crest more round and not 

 filamentous, the uropygials scarcely elongated and the vent only 

 scarlet. The eyes are of a yellowish-brown. Southern examples 

 from Costa Kica and Veragua have the tail-coverts much narrower, 

 and have been needlessly considered to form a distinct species 

 under the name of P. costaricensis. There are, however, three good 

 congeneric species, P. antisianus, P. auriceps and P. pavoninus, from 

 various parts of South America, and, though all are beautiful birds, 

 none possesses the wonderful singularity of the Quezal. 



QUILL, properly that part of Feather which is often called 

 the " barrel " ; but in common use applied to any feather that has 

 a barrel of considerable size, and especially to the large feathers of 

 the tail and wing (see Eectrices, Eemiges). 



QUILL-TAIL COOT, a local name in North America for Uris- 

 matura rubida, one of the Spiny-tailed Ducks (p. 168). 



QUINCK- GOOSE, a fowlers' name of the Brant-Goose (pp. 

 57, 375). 



QUISCALUS, said to be from the Low Latin Quiscnia or 

 Quisquilla, which like Quaquila are supposed to be renderings of 

 Quagila or some such Avord, and to mean Quail, but the first is used 

 as the scientific name of the genus to which belong the Boat-tail 

 Grackles, and also occasionally as an English word. 



QUIT, a name applied in Jamaica, and perhaps some others of 

 the British Antilles, to several very different kinds of birds, 

 probably from the note they utter (cf. Guit-GUIt). Thus the 

 Banana Quit is the Sugar-bird, the Blue Quit is Eiiplionia Jamaica, 

 one of the Tanagers, the Grass-Quits are species of PJwnipara 

 allied if not belonging to the Emherizidm (Bunting), and the 

 Orange-Quit is Glossoptila ruficoUis, one of the Cserebiclse. 



^ Preserved specimens, if exposed to the light, lose much of their beauty in 

 a few years, the original glorious colour becoming a dingy greenish-bhie. 



