TAMING THE AGAMI. 
377 
and it is its passage at entering, and perhaps at issuing forth, that 
produces the trumpet-like, braying sound. 
The agamis feed on fruit of various kinds, seeds, and insects. To 
all other food, the young birds prefer worms and insects ; the old, in 
captivity, are easily accustomed to live on seed and bread. The female 
makes her nest on the ground, scratching a small hollow at the foot of 
a tree, and laying there generally a dozen eggs, of a clear green. The 
young, when hatched, abandon the nest as soon as they are dry, 
and follow their parents in their walks abroad. For several weeks 
they remain covered with a very compact, close, and soft kind of down. 
Very easily is the agami tamed. In all the Indian establishments 
he roams about at perfect liberty, and acts as guardian or keeper of the 
poultry-yard. He quickly learns to recognize persons ; obeys the voice 
of his master, follows him like a dog, precedes him in his march, 
gambols about him with the most comical antics, and exhibits the 
profoundest pleasure when he returns after a long absence. He is 
jealous of the other animals which share with him the master's affec- 
tion. To caresses he shows a decided sensibility; but he has an 
equally decided antipathy towards strangei's, and for certain persons 
even a bitter hatred. He extends his supremacy not only over the 
other birds, but also over the dogs and cats ; bearing down upon them, 
"full sail," with all the courage imaginable — for the purpose, perhaps, 
of driving them to a distance from the flock over which he reigns 
and watches. 
THE KAMICHI, OR SCREAMER. 
Akin to the water-hens, and claiming, therefore, a distant cousin- 
ship with the agami, is the kamichi, or screamer, a big and strong 
bird, with a somewhat unwieldy body, a long neck, but a small head. 
He has a short beak, like that of a barn-door fowl, but crooked at the 
extremity, and covered at the base with a kind of cere. His wings 
are long and ample, and equipped with a couple of strong spurs ; 
the tail is formed of twelve feathers, lightly rounded ; everywhere, 
except on the neck, he rejoices in an abundant plumage. Like the 
agami, the kamichis belong to the Amazonian forest, or rather to the 
inundated marshes which intersect them. They live together generally 
