26 



THE MUSEUM. 



suit to injury, feed themselves and 

 young on their hosts. 



If, while in these Central American 

 forests, we walk along some mountain 

 stream, and look sharply among the 

 orchid- covered branches of the trees, 

 we may spy a "Motmot" sitting quiet- 

 ly in the deepest shadows of the leaves. 

 These Motmots are rather pretty fel- 

 lows, bright olive- green above and 

 rusty- green below, with bright blue 

 wings and tail. The top of the head 

 and the cheeks are shining black, bor- 

 dered with turquoise, blue and violet, 

 which is again edged with black, while 

 in the centre of the breast are one or 

 two black feathers. 



The most peculiar feature of this 

 bird's plumage, however is the tail, the 

 two central feathers of which are long- 

 er than the others, and are bare shafts 

 with the exception of a small space at 

 the tip and base. When these feath- 

 ers first grow out they are like the 

 others, but for some reason the owner 

 thinks he can improve upon nature by 

 shaving. This he does by bending his 

 head down and his tail forward, and 

 using his strong notched bill for a 

 razor, strips off the plumes. 



The housekeeping methods of this 

 queer bird are as strange as his shaving, 

 for while home itself, a long tunnel in 

 some sandy river's bank, is dry and 

 warm, it is far from clean or inviting. 

 Motmots, so lazy as to be averse to 

 foraging for their young day by day, 

 pile the nest full of dead fish and 

 small animals, which soon becomes a 

 mass of maggots, upon which the 

 young birds feed until able to care for 

 themselves. You can readily see that 

 such a nest is not a pleasant one to 

 rob, therefore the Motmots are seldom 

 molested and become so tame and un- 

 suspicious that they are called "Bobos," 

 or fools, by the natives. 



Along the fences and roadsides in 

 Central America, one may some- 

 times catch a glimpse of a small red- 

 dish-brown bird, with a short stub tail, 

 from which project two long stiff feath- 

 ers. This sly and suspicious little chap 



is a species of wren, and judging from 

 his size no one would believe him to 

 be the maker and owner of the huge 

 nests which are so common in the 

 brushy localities where he lives. 



These nests are not nearly so re- 

 markable for their great size as for 

 their curious and clever construction. 

 When the wrens are ready to com- 

 mence housekeeping, they select a bush 

 or small tree with horizontal branches; 

 across two of these are laid sticks 

 which are fastened securely in place 

 with tough grass and roots until a plat- 

 form about six feet long and two feet 

 wide is formed. On the end of this 

 platform nearest the tree they build a 

 dome shaped nest about a foot high, 

 with thick sides of interwoven thorns. 

 From this they build a zigzag or curv- 

 ed tunnel to the outer end of the plat- 

 form. Across the entrance and at en- 

 tervals along this passage, are built 

 little thorn fences, leaving holes bare- 

 ly large enough for the birds to squeeze 

 in and out. When leaving the nests 

 the wrens close the doors behind them 

 by placing thorns across the holes. 

 The big dome is filled half full of leaves, 

 soft grass and cotton from the silk-cot- 

 ton tree, and on this warm bed the 

 mother wren lays her dainty speckled 

 eggs and raises the young she has 

 taken such care to protect from in- 

 truders. 



On the broad level plains or Llan- 

 uras of tropical America are many 

 giant trees standing singly or in groups, 

 and in these the "Caziques" or "Pen- 

 dulas" build their wonderful swinging 

 nests, sometimes fairly covering the 

 trees, so that from a distance they 

 look like huge pear-shaped fruit. The 

 Pendulas (of which there are several 

 species, the largest about the size of a 

 crow,) are relations of our northern 

 Orioles. They are much alike in color, 

 dark seal brown with the exception of 

 the tail, which is a bright golden yel- 

 low, and hence they are known as 

 "yellowtails" in Nicaragua. Their bill 

 is very large and strong, with a broad 



