232 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



the quezal or resplendent trogon. This 

 lovely bird is only found in Central America, 

 and in ancient times the native kings used 

 to allow no one else to wear its plumage 

 but themselves. And this plumage is more 

 splendid than that of any other bird, being of 

 the most brilliant golden green, with scarlet 

 on the breast, and as the quezal is as big as a 

 pigeon it is large enough to be very striking, 

 and is certainly finer than any of the birds of 

 paradise. It is only the male quezal that has 

 the long streaming feathers, but the hen is 

 just as brilliant in colour. Quezals are not 

 very energetic birds ; they sit on the boughs 

 and fly out to pluck berries now and then ; 

 in the forests they live in food is abundant 

 enough to be got in this very lazy way. 



Although there are many other sorts of 

 trogons, none are nearly so splendid as the 

 quezal ; but the bird I am mentioning as 

 figuring in a coat of arms is even more extra- 

 ordinary in its way. This is the secretary- 

 bird of Africa, which figures in the coat of 

 arms of Cape Colony, and is protected by law 

 for its services in killing snakes there. It 

 looks, as the picture shows, more like an eagle 



