238 ARBOBEAL HABITS. [CHAP. i. 



bickering and jealousy; and surely, any other set of 

 domesticable, philo-progenitive birds would be con- 

 stantly piping, in the exuberance of their content- 

 ment 



" Let us own, if there be an Elysium upon earth, 

 It is this ! it is this ! " 



Well, Lord Derby's Cracidae had done not much more 

 than those in London, we believe not quite so much as 

 those at Sir Robert Heron's, which, added altogether, 

 is not a great deal in the way of encouragement to en- 

 terprising breeders. One male bird at Knowsley, yield- 

 ing a little to the fascination of the spot, had prepared 

 for his mate a bower of love. And where does the 

 reader think it was placed ? The gallant Curassow had 

 mounted a tall holly-bush, and thereon made a nest 

 about the size and shape of a peck basket, interlacing 

 the twigs, and then lining them with the prickly leaves, 

 which he had cropped, as a comfortable couch for the 

 Hen and her nestlings. The whole thing was an insult 

 to any incubating female, and she treated it with the 

 neglect that such a structure of chevaux de /rises de- 

 served. 



But even if this family of birds could be tempted to 

 breed freely with us, under any circumstances, many of 

 their natural habits would be found extremely inconve- 

 nient, to say the least. " It should be remembered," 

 Mr. Martin truly reminds us, " that they are arboreal 

 in their habits, and natives of the forest of a hot cli- 

 mate, and consequently should be accommodated, as far 

 as possible, in a manner consistent with their habits and 

 requirements. We have seen Curassows with their toes 

 lost from the effect of cold and wet." Let your poultry- 

 maid, country reader, when she next turns her eye upon 



