312 LAUGHING JACKASS. [CHAP. v. 



stroyed, as they were sure to rouse us with the earliest 

 dawn. 



" I shall here particularize the routine of one of our 

 days, which will serve as an example of all the rest. I 

 usually rise when I hear the merry laugh of the Laugh- 

 ing Jackass (Dacelo yigantea), which, from its regularity, 

 has been not unaptly named the Settler's Clock ; a loud 

 cooee then roused my companion." 



The Zoological Society possessed this summer (1850) 

 a Laughing Jackass in full feather and high spirits. 

 We had the pleasure of seeing and hearing this strange 

 creature giving vent now and then to its risible fit, as if 

 it saw something in the appearance of some of the visi- 

 tors to the Gardens of which it could not help expressing 

 its contemptuous opinion. It is an ugly-plumaged fellow, 

 with nothing to be proud of on its own part a sort of 

 gray bird with white interspersed, and the family fea- 

 ture, an enormous bill ; but coming from the antipodes, 

 and having such a remarkable name and habits, it seldom 

 fails to attract the notice of those who have ajiy suspi- 

 cion what bird it really is. 



