104 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



reviewing the bill in this state, you conclude that its 

 former bright colours are lost. 



Something still remains to be done. You have ren- 

 dered the bill transparent by the operation, and that 

 transparency must be done away to make it appear 

 perfectly natural. Pound some clean chalk, and give it 

 enough water till it be of the consistency of tar ; add 

 a proportion of gum arabic to make it adhesive ; then 

 take a camel-hair brush, and give the inside of both 

 mandibles a coat ; apply a second when the first is dry, 

 then another, and a fourth to finish all. The gum 

 arabic will prevent the chalk from cracking and falling 

 off. If you remember, there is a little space of trans- 

 parent white in the lower mandible, which originally 

 appeared blue, but which became transparent white as 

 soon as the thin piece of blue skin was cut away ; this 

 must be painted blue inside. When all this is com- 

 pleted, the bill will please you ; it will appear in its 

 original colours. Probably your own abilities will 

 suggest a cleverer mode of operating than the mode 

 here described. A small gouge would assist the pen- 

 knife, and render the operation less difficult. 



The Houtou ranks high in beauty amongst 

 the birds of Demerara ; his whole body is 

 green, with a bluish cast in the wings and tail ; his 

 crown, which he erects at pleasure, consists of black in 

 the centre, surrounded with lovely blue of two different 

 shades : he has a triangular black spot, edged with blue, 

 behind the eye extending to the ear ; and on his breast 

 a sable tuft, consisting of nine feathers edged also with 

 blue. This bird seems to suppose that its beauty can 

 be increased by trimming the tail, which undergoes 

 the same operation as our hair in a barber's shop, only 



