The Mot-Mot, 107 



bright eye, the iris of which, is red. Its tail, how- 

 ever, is without doubt its most noticeable feature, 

 not so much from its length and colour as from the 

 extraordinary habit the bird possesses, especially, 

 it would seem, when excited, of swinging it from 

 side to side after the manner, and with the regu- 

 larity, of the pendulum of a clock, occasionally 

 varying the monotony of the proceeding by jerking 

 it straight up over its back an odd habit, calcu- 

 lated to attract the attention of the least observant. 

 The mot-mot's tail has the further peculiarity that 

 the two middle feathers, which are longer than the 

 others, are racket-shaped at the end that is to 

 say, that for about an inch the feather is perfect, 

 and then for an inch, or rather more, the shaft is 

 entirely denuded of web. This peculiarity has 

 given rise to some controversy, one side contending 

 that it is natural, while the other avers that it is 

 artificial, being caused by the bird itself. 



Waterton first drew attention to the fact that 

 the bird acted as its own barber, and described the 

 process as follows: " This bird [the mot-mot, or 

 houtou as he called it] seems to suppose that its 

 beauty can be increased by trimming the tail, 

 which undergoes the same operation as one's hair 

 in a barber's shop, only with this difference, that 

 it uses its own beak, which is serrated, in lieu of a 

 pair of scissors. As soon as its tail is full-grown, 

 it begins about an inch from the extremity of the 

 two longest feathers in it, making a gap about an 

 inch long. Both male and female adonise their 



