Tame animals among the red men of America. 39 
both for the sake of the large price which they fetch 
when carried to town and for the sake of the feathers 
which are largely used in some ornaments. To see 
a group of ten or twenty of these birds tame and in 
good condition is a sight to be long remembered. It 
is a curious fact that these birds, at least in captivity, 
are partly carniverous. I once saw one pounce down 
on a mouse which happened to pass under it, killing it 
and swallowing it whole. At the time I supposed that 
this was an abnormal and unusual occurrence ; but I 
have since seen it repeated several times, and have even 
seen a tame cock-of-the-rock catch, kill and swallow 
small birds. 
Snakes, as far as I know, are never kept alive by In- 
dians ; but some other reptiles are, for instance iguanas, 
{Iguana tuber citlatd). These lizards, ugly and dull- 
coloured when old, are of a most beautiful and vivid 
emerald green when young. They are evidently pleasing 
to the taste of the Indians, who undoubtedly have a 
childlike love and affection of bright colours. 
It may be asked how the Indians obtain such numbers 
of animals and what means they employ to tame them. 
Many of the birds are taken when quite young from their 
nests, and many of the animals are caught at a corres- 
ponding age. But it is not only young birds and animals 
that are tamed. Many are shot with special arrows 
poisoned with just sufficient ourali (curare) to bring the 
animal down without actually killing it. The animal is 
then picked up, its face is rubbed with faroah — the red 
pigment used by the Indians for their own bodies, — in 
order to show the poor victim that its captors are ' good 
