124 WANDERINGS IN 



Second lieu of a pail' of scissars : as soon as his tail is full 



Journey. 



grown, lie 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 remarkable appearance 

 amongst all other birds. AVhile we consider the tail of 

 the Houtou blemished and defective, were he to come 

 amongst us, he would probably consider our heads, 

 cropped and bald, in no better light. He who wishes 



Its haunts, to obscrvc tliis haiidsomc bird in his native haunts, 

 must be in the forest at the morning's daAvn. 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 solitary Houtou. In those far- 

 extending wilds, about daybreak, you hear him arti- 

 culate, in a distinct and mournful tone, " Houtou, 

 houtou." Move cautious on to Avhere the sound pro- 

 ceeds from, and you will see him sitting in the under- 

 wood, 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 under- 

 wood, 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. 



