QUETZAL 



4901 



QUILLER-COUCH 



building, the physics and geology building, and 

 Grant Hall, this last a fine convocation hall 

 named for one of the most successful principals, 

 of the institution. The library contains over 

 70,000 volumes, and there are 100 members in 

 the faculty and about 1,100 students. In 1917 

 the principal was the Reverend Daniel M. Gor- 

 don, whose biography is given on page 2538 in 

 Volume Four. 



QUETZAL, or QUEZAL, kctsahl', from the 

 Xahuatl (Mexican) word quezalli, meaning 

 green /<// r, is the name of a brilliantly-col- 

 ored bird of the trogon family, found in Cen- 

 tral America. It has a short neck, small, weak 

 feet, a round crest 

 and enormous tail 

 coverts, three and 

 a half feet long. 

 The upper part is 

 bronze-green, the 

 lower crimson. 

 The female has no 

 long tail coverts 

 and is colored 

 brown and buff. 

 The quetzal haunts 

 the thirke-t parts 

 of the forest, cling- 

 ing to trees, like 

 the woodpecker, 

 but because of its 

 . feet it is un- 

 able to walk or 

 climb. It is not 

 shy and is very un- 

 suspicious; the na- 

 tives often kill the 

 birds \\ith clubs. 

 cry* is two 

 plaintive notes, 

 swelling to a dis- 

 mt scream. It 

 builds DO nest, but 

 bores a hole in rot- 

 stumps or 

 trees. The Ameri- 

 can -<|M -t/.il lives 

 ly on fniit. liz- 

 ards, small crabs, 

 pillars, etc. 

 Indian and 

 African quetzals 

 upon insects. 



il i- the national bird of Guate- 



1 only rlil- K are allow. (1 to \ve;ir its 



TKOQON. 



QUICK 'SAND, a mass of loose sand mixed 

 with water to such an extent that it is incapable 

 of supporting the weight of a heavy body. 

 The grains of sand, which have smooth, 

 rounded surfaces, do not cling together to form 

 a compact mass. Quicksands are often formed 

 at the mouths of rivers or in their channels, or 

 on seacoasts. In some cases a mass of quick- 

 sand may be firm and dry for hours, but when 

 it becomes wet it shifts and becomes dangerous. 

 Men and teams, as well as wild animals, have 

 lost their lives by sinking in deep quicksands. 

 Such a formation is not easily distinguished 

 from ordinary sand and so is often a dangerous 

 trap. Operating in quicksand is one of the 

 difficult problems of engineering experts. One 

 method of overcoming the instability of these 

 formations consists in sinking brine-filled pipes 

 into the sand, as a result of which the sur- 

 rounding mass freezes and hardens. Caissons 

 are also used (see CAISSON ) . 



QUICK 'SILVER. See MKRCVHY. 



QUILLER-COUCH, kwil'ir kooch' , SIR AR- 

 THIK THOMAS (1863- ), an English novelist, 

 essayist and poet, known under the pen name 

 of "Q," was born in Cornwall. He was edu- 

 cated at Trinity College in Oxford University, 

 where he afterwards served as a lecturer on 

 literature. He went to London in 1887 to be- 

 come one of the editors of The Speaker, and in 

 that year wrote his first book, Dead Man's 

 Rock, a romantic story of adventures. It re- 

 ceived some notice, but his real success as a 

 novelist began with Troy Town and The SpU n- 

 did Spur. The>e two >u>ries described the 

 quaint scenes and traditions of the Cornwall 

 neighborhood which he knew so well, and im- 

 pressed British critics as being thoroughly 

 natural in style and plot. 'The Delectable 

 Duchy, From a Cornish Window, and various 

 oth.r volumes dealing with his native section, 

 greatly milled not only to his own fame but to 

 that of old Cornwall. 



In ISM Quiller-C'ouch left London to reside 

 at Fowey, in the midst of tin- country which 

 he had described with such romance and spirit, 

 and in that Milage he has written more than 

 thirty-live volumes of fiction and essays. His 

 humor is developed not by mere word juggling. 

 but by accurat > of the queer, ludicrous 



people and incidents observed daily in Western 

 .nd. He is a realist in the beet sense, for 

 though he describes life actually as he sees it, 

 Iocs not emphasize its dreary and pessi- 

 mistic aspects, as many so-called realists arc 

 inclined to do. 



