THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BIRD. 



The most beautiful bird in the world 

 is the quezal and its habitat is the for- 

 ests of Central America. It is not lar- 

 ger than a wild dove and has a head 

 dress that is exactly like an antique hel- 

 met in shape while a flashing golden 

 green plays over it. The plumage of the 

 body does not lie in orderly rows, feather 

 fitting into feather, as in most birds, but 

 the plumes are boldly waved and over- 

 hang the body. The immense feathers, 

 like jewels, flash forth their beauty in the 

 richest emerald green imaginable. The 

 two middle feathers of the tail are 

 streaked with this beautiful green, while 

 the remainder of the feathers composing 

 the tail, which is three feet long, are 

 black and white. The breast and lower 

 part of the body of the quezal are scarlet. 



It is a sacred bird in almost all of Cen- 

 tral America today, and its killing and 

 exportation is frowned down upon al- 

 most everywhere, and in many places 

 there is quite a severe fine and long im- 

 prisonment for any one who dares to dis- 

 turb the royal creature. Because of tra- 

 ditional belief throughout Central Amer- 

 ica and because of its freedom-loving 

 propensities Guatemala has used the bird 

 as the symbol of freedom on its coat of 

 arms. No bird is allowed to be kept in 

 captivity because it is believed that the 

 heart of the quezal breaks when thus de- 

 prived of liberty. It has been found im- 

 possible to keep the bird alive in a cage; 



When Cortez landed in Mexico he 

 found temples and sacred buildings erect- 

 ed in honor of the quezal. The feathers 

 of the quezal were considered more val- 

 uable than gold, and the killing of the 

 sacred creature was a national crime, 

 punishable with death. Every year que- 

 zal hunters were sent out by the Emper- 

 or of Mexico to gather feathers from the 

 body of the quezal. This was done by 

 catching the birds with bird lime, very 

 carefully abstracting the two long green 

 feathers from the middle of its tail and 

 then liberating them again. Only the 

 Emperor was permitted to wear the que- 

 zal feathers. It was the insignia of roy- 

 altv. Montezuma's famous crown was 



made of hundreds of the green tail 

 feathers, upheld by fine strips of precious 

 wood and bound together with fine gold, 

 so that when the crown was put on, it 

 stood almost three feet above the head 

 of the wearer. Then his cloak was made 

 of almost equally precious bright blue 

 feathers and on arms and ankles he wore 

 rings of solid gold. His belt was gold 

 set in gems and he bore in his hand a 

 golden spear set with the richest jewels 

 of the secret mines of Central America. 

 Thus was Montezuma clothed when he 

 sat in council ; so was he clothed when he 

 met the empire-plundering Cortez and 

 his band of men. 



In these sacred temples of the Aztec 

 world quezal worship was one of the 

 popular religions of the day; and the 

 only other use the feathers of these beau- 

 tiful birds were put to besides being 

 worn in the crown of a monarch was in 

 decking the likenesses and figures of the 

 Aztec gods and the battle insignia of the 

 imperial warriors. 



The mythology of the Central Ameri- 

 cans is almost wholly lost ; but one of 

 their most beautiful legends is concerning 

 the quezal bird's creation. 



Once a great man, says the legend, 

 named Quezalcoatl with a great heart 

 and a noble countenance arose in Central 

 America. He was born in Tlapallan, the 

 Land of the Sunrise, which lies across the 

 sea and never is darkened. Within his 

 face was love and in his eyes the shining 

 of the sun. His beard, beautiful in color 

 flowed to' his breast and his look was 

 filled with a magnetic charm of calmness 

 and of peace. He grew from youth to 

 manhood in the sunland of Tlapellan. 

 then he crossed the sea to the land of 

 Mexico. His craft was a mighty sea- 

 shell and it rode the waves as if it re- 

 joiced in its mastery of the tempestuous 

 power of the wayward ocean. Clothed 

 in pure white, he wandered through the 

 land, accepting offerings only of fruits 

 and flowers. Gentleness, friendship and 

 love was the doctrine of his life. Where 

 he trod the earth became gay with seed ; 

 and fruitfulness. even to prodigality, 



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