OOLDEN-UREASTED TRUMPETER.— JJs<>p;i;!i crepitans. 



(^'ARIAMA. — Caridliui CTistdta, 



The Golden-breasted Trumpeter is a handsome bird, remarkable for the short velvety 

 feathers of the head and neck, and their beautiful golden green lustre on the breast. The 

 body of this bird is hardly larger than that of a fowl, but its legs and neck are so long as 

 to give it the aspect of being much larger than it really is. Like most birds of similar 

 structure, it trusts more to its legs than its wiugs, and is able to run with great speed and 

 activity. It is generally found in the forests. 



As it is very easily tamed, it is a favourite inmate of the house, where it soon 

 constitutes itself the self-chosen guardian, watching the premises as jealously as any dog, 

 and permitting no other bird or beast to share its owner's favours at the same time. Dogs 

 and cats it dislikes, and turns them out of the rocjin when meal-times approach. The 

 dog sometimes fights for its privileges, but mostly in vain, for the Trumpeter has a way 

 of rising into the air, coming down on the dogs back and striking him with bill and feet, 

 that effectually puzzles the four-footed foe and forces him to vacate the field of battle. It 

 is said to learn to drive sheep, and to perform this arduous duty as well as any dog. 



The name of Trumpeter is derived from the strange hollow cry w-hicli it utters without 

 seeming to open the beak. This cry is evidently produced by means of the curiou.sly 

 formed wind])ipe, which is furuLshed with two membranous expansions, and, during the 

 uttei-aiice of the cry, puffs out the neck very forcibly, just as the rhea does when grunting. 

 The nest of the Trumpeter is said to be a hole scratched in the ground at the foot of a 

 tree, and to contain about ten or twelve light green eggs. The head and neck are velvety 

 black, and on the breast the feathers become large, rounded, and more scale-like, and 

 their edges aie beautifully bedecked with rich shining green with a purplish gloss in 



