140 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Easily caught by traps. 



they build their nest, at so judicious a height 

 that it can never be reached even by the highest 

 floods. Latham says, that they build between 

 the forks of trees, three or four feet from the 

 ground, in swamps which are seldom penetrable 

 by man. 



By setting traps in thickets \vhich they fre- 

 quent, these birds are easily caught ; and, ivith- 

 ont difficulty, are also rendered tame, and even 

 taught to speak. Whether taken young or old 

 they become immediately tame. They are fond 

 of singing ; and are exceedingly playful, either 

 when confined or when suffered to run about the 

 house. It is very common to keep them in a cy- 

 lindrical cage with bells, which they turn round 

 in the same manner as squirrels are often made 

 to do in this country. With the liveliness and 

 familiarity which they possess, it is said to be 

 highly diverting to place them before a looking- 

 glass, and observe their strange and whimsical 

 gesticulations : sometimes they erect the feathers 

 of their head, and hiss at the image; then lower- 

 ing their crest, they set up their tail, quiver their 

 wings, and strike at it with their bills. When 

 they have been confined in a cage for some 

 years, they are said to become perfectly white, 

 and so stupid and inanimate as at last not to be 

 able to feed themselves; this, however, never 

 happens in their native country. 



