i6o Bird- Lore 



pick and pick at these feathers, tearing off a few barbs at a time with its bill. 

 This is kept up until the tail is in the condition which is shown in the 

 photograph, and at each succeeding moult the process is again repeated. 



This symmetrical denudation of the tail feathers might be instanced as a 

 remarkable attempt at esthetic self-ornamentation on the part of the male 

 bird to make himself more beautiful in the eyes of the female. But, unfor- 

 tunately for this theory, the habit is as strongly pronounced in one sex as in 

 the other! 



When the feathers grow out anew, although the barbs are all present, 

 the vane at this point is narrower than elsewhere, showing perhaps that 

 the long-continued exercise of the habit for generation after generation is 

 in some way having an hereditary effect. But we cannot be at all sure 

 about this. The inheritance of acquired characters is too unproved a theory 

 as yet. The real cause of the habit would be a most interesting one to 

 solve. In some of the individuals which we see, the process has just begun, 

 only a few barbs having been torn away. 



Although a Mexican Motmot measures over a foot in length, yet its 

 voice, more often than its color, betrays it. This is a most startling 

 utterance : several harsh churrs followed by three distinct, beautifully liquid 

 notes. But even when this is heard near at hand, little clew is given as to 

 the bird's exact whereabouts, for the tones are so startlingly loud and have 

 such ventriloquial power that they seem to come from all directions at once. 

 No sound that I hear them utter can possibly be construed into the 

 syllables mot-mot. 



These birds are not shy, but will permit one to approach quite closely 

 before taking a short flight to a neighboring tree or bush. Just before they 

 fly they usually give utterance to a low chuck! chuck! evidently an alarm note. 

 This is always the most common sound of my tame bird when I attempt 

 to approach it. What betrays a Motmot more surely than its color, or 

 even its voice, is the curious pendulum motion of the tail, from side to side 

 and more rarely up and down. When the bird blends so perfectly with its 

 surroundings that the eye fails to locate it, the horizontal swing of its tail 

 reveals it. Thjs is not a true pendulum motion, as the tail snaps to the 

 highest point of the swing, and is held there for a moment before being 

 jerked to the opposite side. 



Although the feet of the Motmot are weak and adapted only for perch- 

 ing, and its usual method of feeding is to catch insects upon the wing, yet 

 more than once, while watching these birds I see them fly to the ground 

 and scratch awkwardly, picking up food after each disturbance of the leaves. 

 Another habit I should dismiss as an individual freak, except for the fact 

 that it is observed in three different birds. These particular Motmots are 

 not aware of my presence and, after feeding for a time, they fly to a sunny 

 open spot, fling themselves flat upon their backs and spreading wide their 



