184 BEAUTIFUL BIRDS 
But what I wanted to tell you about these old 
Aztecs, who lived in Mexico all that time ago, was 
that, when the Spaniards came there, they were ruled 
over by a great king named Montezuma, and this king, 
amongst many other wonderful things, had a great 
place, where he kept all the different kinds of birds 
that were found in his country. A place like that 
is called an aviary, and you may be quite sure that 
the beautiful Trogon or Quezal was one of the birds 
in King Montezuma’s aviary, for it was more highly 
thought of than any other bird in the country. Let 
us hope that all the birds in this aviary had nice, 
large places to be in, with trees, and flowers, and 
everything that they wanted ; and, as it was a king’s 
aviary, | daresay they had. 
Well, now, I will tell you what this beautiful 
bird, the Quezal or Resplendent Trogon, that used 
to be in King Montezuma’s aviary, is like. It is 
about thé size of a turtle-dove, but with the most 
beautiful, long, curling feathers in its tail, and 
these beautiful feathers, and all the feathers on its 
back and breast and on its head, too, are of the 
most lovely, rich, golden-green colour. Really 
I don’t know whether there is more of gold or of 
green in them, but there is just the right quantity 
of each to make them the most beautiful, beautiful 
feathers you can possibly imagine. It is the tail- 
