A MODEL BIRD. 
387 
They are very fond of resorting to the water. They trouble them- 
selves only about their own affairs" — another lesson for humanity! — 
"and live in entire harmony with all the other inhabitants of the 
enclosui-e." Obviously the jabiru is a model bird ! He is the Jacques 
Bonhomme of the Bird World ; and in his avoidance of quarrels, atten- 
tion to his own business, and general amiability, affords an example 
which most of us poor human creatures must honestly confess to be as 
worthy of admiration as it is difficult of imitation. To what a high 
standard of good breeding and intelligence has the Mycteria Senegal- 
ensis attained, since he has learned to despise that " low vice, curios- 
ity," and to regard the concerns of his neighbours as something with 
which he has no right to meddle ! " Curiosity," says Fuller, quaintly, 
" is a kernel of the forbidden fruit which still sticketh in the throat of 
a natural man, sometimes to the danger of his choking." Well, at aU 
events, the jabiru seems never to have yielded to the temptation of 
tasting it ! 
THE AFRICAN TOURACO. 
Among the African birds must be noticed the touraco, one of the 
MusophagidfB, remarkable for the pride of his bearing and the splen- 
dour of his plumage. Conceive to yourself a graceful creature about 
eighteen inches in length, with back and wings of a deep violet- 
shaded green; the tail of a violet-black, marked with small trans- 
versal lines of deeper hue ; the tuft or crest shining with a pearly 
brilliance ; the wings blushing carmine, and fringed circularly with a 
mellow green; and above and below each eye a patch of white, like 
a snow-wreath on the mountain-brow. Is not Abyssinia fortunate 
in the possession of a bird so comely ? 
He has a fine sense, one might say, of the beautiful in nature ; for 
his favourite resort are the higher slopes of the well-wooded and well- 
watered valleys, where flourishes the Euphorbia grandidens, with 
candelabrum-like branches. Like the jay, he lives in bands or small 
families ; and like the jay, too, he is constantly in motion. All day he 
wanders to and fro ; but at night he returns regularly to certain trees, 
— the sycamores and tamarinds, with their environing growth of low 
leafy bushes. This is the rendezvous of the company ; and thence 
