76 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



the opposite direction. Quickly throwing up my gun 

 and sighting almost at random, I pulled trigger, and 

 one of the birds fell crashing through the branches to 

 the ground. Picking it up, 1 retreated to the shelter 

 of the tree, where the mass of parasitic plants on bole 

 and branches shunted off the rain, and was pleased to 

 find that I had shot a full-grown male. 



This bird, which is locally named from its loud 

 and harsh cry, belongs to the family Cracidce^ which 

 contains among others that strange bird, the " cha- 

 cha-la-ka " of Mexico. There I shot one, in the ruins 

 of IJxmal, years before, and found it as wary as this 

 species, and possessed of as strange a cry. This 

 " shout " of the cockerrico can be heard for miles, and 

 is produced by a specially-arranged apparatus, for its 

 larynx is very long, being fastened to the lower end 

 of the sternum and reflexed upon itself, passing back 

 and entering the thoracic cavity. It is curved like a 

 French horn, and it is little wonder that its possessor 

 can make himself heard for miles distant from his 

 place of feeding. 



It is almost omnivorous in its appetite, but feeds 

 chiefly upon the seeds and buds of trees and vines, 

 such as the milkweed, fiddle wood, clammy cherry, 

 wild grapes, sugar apple, sapadillo, cabbage palm, 

 etc. The name given to this bird by the naturalists 

 is Ortalis rujicauda^ and the family to which it be- 

 longs is confined to the tropical forests of the New 

 World, ranging from Mexico to Paraguay, in the 

 West Indies representatives being found only in 

 Trinidad and Tobago. 



