246 
POPULAE HISTORY OP BIEDS. 
of a calf or young cow as an atonement. Prom this circum- 
stance the bird is often called the Kaffir Crane. 
The favoured visitor to Knowsley in 1848^ could not fail 
to be struck with the loveable familiarity of a tallish^ soft- 
plumed bird^ of which there were several specimens running 
about in the courts of the Earl of Derby^s aviary. There 
seemed to be two well-marked varieties of this bird : natu« 
ralists perhaps regard them as species. The bird is called 
the Trumpeter, and has acquired the appellation, as well 
as the specific part of its Latin name [Psophia crepitans), 
from the curious noise it can produce. Mr. Blyth in- 
forms us that its trachea is much elongated, and continued 
under the skin of the abdomen, a position which occasions 
the voice to appear as if it came from that part. Its head 
and neck are invested with peculiarly soft downy feathers, 
and the space around its eyes is devoid of all covering. 
In Demerara, Waterton tells us, it is named Waracaba, 
and there the wanderer falls in with flocks of from two 
to three hundred. They run with great rapidity, and in 
their wild state live in the woods, where they subsist chiefly 
on fruits and seeds ; they are said to nestle on the ground, 
at the foot of trees. The trumpeters are easily tamed ; and 
when trained, follow their master in his walks, showing him 
