CHAPTER xxt. 



or CQolucccm ( 



I HIS is an uncommonly fine bird and a very intelligent 

 one: true the proverb "Handsome is that handsome 

 does" will not always hold good in his case, for he 

 can be awfully noisy when he chooses, and that is 

 almost continually. Still, given a quiet specimen of 

 the race, it is a splendid creature, imposing as to size, 

 quaint as to appearance and lovely as to plumage, 

 when the bird is in good condition, which is usually 

 the case with him. In size he about equals a Raven, 

 though, of course, his appearance is very different from 

 that of "Grip". He has a great partiality for imitating 

 the cackle of a laying hen, often leading the unaccus- 

 tomed housewife, who chances to hear him for the first 

 time, to run out to the roost only to be disappointed 

 in her search for eggs. 



He measures about twenty inches in length from 

 beak to end of tail, and is stout in proportion, not to 

 say of portly build. In repose he sits on his perch 



