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Lord Brabourne,



state. The Macaw, brave as a lion and very curious, approached,

and seemed to have some intention of making himself acquainted,

when the Toucan suddenly awoke and in a fury made lunge after

lunge with his long beak at the Parrot, who was driven simply to

fall off his perch to the ground before his small adversary. This

bird could not be persuaded to eat, so at the end of 24 hours it

seemed better to kill it, and his final resting-place is the Bird

Department of the South Kensington Museum.


“Isabel” was an Urraca Jay (Cyanocorctx chrysops ), the

Acahe ” of the Guaranis, and was taken from the nest at a very

early age ; it was some time before it could be persuaded to forage

for itself, and required a deal of personal attention, but seemed to

thrive well on a diet of chopped raw meat. Still, when after a

few weeks it was able to leave its box and see life it became an

almost insufferable nuisance. The perpetual croaking cry for food

could be ignored so long as it was confined to its box, but when one

was awakened at the very early dawn by unceasing pleadings from

under the very bed, and when in a few days later the bird would

flutter on to the very bed itself, sudden death nearly overtook it

more than once. By-and-bye the Jay began to use its wings, and

becoming less and less familiar soon vanished altogether, probably

to join one of the numerous flocks in the neighbourhood. These

Jays play a conspicuous part in the bird-life of Paraguay, and by

their lovely blue and primrose colouring and strange inquisitive notes

are amongst the first birds to attract the attention of a stranger.

They are always seen in flocks of from about 6 to 12.


An interesting pet whose captivity was of the shortest dura¬

tion was a Tinamou (Bhyncotus rufescens), the Large Partridge of

Argentina and Paraguay. This was at a time when Locusts in the

“ hopper ” stage were swarming everywhere. The bird was only

about the size of a 10-day old chicken, but well able to forage for

itself. Seveivil of these Locusts were placed near it, and in spite of

their jerking efforts to escape, the Tinamou caught them one after

another with all the stately strategy and deliberate greed of a mature

old hen. This young bird showed not the slightest fear of man, but

its powers of upward movement were underestimated ; it was placed

in a large open box and in the morning had vanished. As Locusts



