AMERICAN KEEL-BILL. 



several females lay, and hatch their eggs in the 

 same nest ; so that these birds may be considered 

 as in some degree analogous to Beavers among 

 quadrupeds. The nest is about a foot and half 

 in diameter, and of a very considerable depth; but 

 varies according to the number of families that are 

 to inhabit it. Some individuals however are said 

 to build single nests, or else make divisions in the 

 cavity of a large one for their own offspring: where 

 this is not done, the whole of the eggs roll together 

 in the middle of the nest, and one bird is said often 

 to cover or sit on the whole; but it is to be sup- 

 posed that, in this case, they relieve each other by 

 turns: when the nest is at any time left without an 

 attendant, care is taken to cover the eggs with a 

 layer of leaves, both for concealment, and in order 

 to preserve a proper degree of heat, and when the 

 numerous family is hatched, the busy mothers are 

 assisted by the males in feeding the young ; and 

 where several groupes have been hatched in the 

 separate inclosures of the larger nests, the parents 

 are said to feed all in common, without making 

 any particular distinction between their owti off- 

 spring and that of their neighbours. They are 

 observed to breed several times in a year, and the 

 eggs, which are several in number, are of a blueish- 

 green colour. 



The Keel-Bill is a bird of a tame and gentle 

 nature, and when taken early, may be educated in 

 the same manne as a Parrot, and taught to speak ; 

 but its disagreeable smell is a reason for seldom 

 practising this experiment. 



