CHAPTER VII. 



THE ARISTOCRACY OF THE CREST. 



IT might reasonably be said that all crested 

 birds are notable figures among their kind. 

 Certainly, there is a perfectly definite dis- 

 tinction attached to species which possess this lively 

 ornament. 



The comparative rarity of the crest is the first 

 factor in this consideration, but a more potent one 

 is the fact that it gives to its owner a sprightliness, 

 and, indeed, a dignity, which many birds of more 

 brilliant plumage cannot display. I would not go so 

 far as to compare the crest with a woman's "crown of 

 glory." Obviously, the former is a much less essential 

 decoration that is to say, the bird could better 

 afford to lose its crest than the woman could to part 

 with her hair so much so that one wonders what 

 purpose brought it into being. Howbeit, the fact 

 remains that the distinction of the crest is not lost 

 upon its owner. I have never yet seen a crested 

 bird, young or old, that did not display some indica- 

 tion of the possession of a belief that he (or she) 

 was one of Nature's anointed. 



You see these qualities of sprightliness and con- 

 scious dignity exhibited by the Cockatoos, and par- 

 ticularly by the pink (Cockalerina) species, which 



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