SECOND JOURNEY. 



105 



with this difference, that it uses its own beak, which 

 is serrated, in lieu of a pair of scissors. As soon as his 

 tail is full grown, he begins about an inch from the 

 extremity of the two longest feathers in it, and cuts 

 away the web on both sides of the shaft, making a gap 

 about an inch long : both male and female Adonise 

 their tails in this manner, which gives them a remark- 

 able ajDpearance amongst all other birds. AYhile we 

 consider the tail of the houtou blemished and defective, 

 were he to come amongst us, he would probably con- 

 sider our heads, cropped and bald, in no better light. 



He who wishes to observe this handsome 

 bird in his native haunts, must be in the 

 forest at the morning's dawn. The houtou shuns the 

 society of man : the plantations and cultivated parts are 

 too much disturbed to engage it to settle there ; the thick 

 and gloomy forests are the places preferred by the soli- 

 tary houtou. In those far-extending wilds, about day- 

 break, you hear him articulate, in a distinct and mourn- 

 ful tone, "houtou, houtou." Move cautiously on to 

 where the sound proceeds from, and you will see him 

 sitting in the underwood, about a couple of yards from 

 the ground, his tail moving up and down every time 

 he articulates "houtou." He lives on insects and the 

 berries amongst the underwood, and very rarely is seen 

 in the lofty trees, except the bastard siloabali-tree, the 

 fruit of which is grateful to him. He makes no nest, 

 but rears his young in a hole in the sand, generally on 

 the side of a hill. 



While in quest of the houtou, you will now and 

 then fall in with the jay of Guiana, called by the 

 , ^ Indians Ibibirou. Its forehead is black, the 



The Jay of ^ ^ 



Guiana. rest of the head white j the throat and 



