File:Bird lore (1905) (14563005978).jpg

Identifier: birdlore71905nati (find matches)
Title: Bird lore
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: National Committee of the Audubon Societies of America National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals National Audubon Society
Subjects: Birds Birds Ornithology
Publisher: New York City : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Text Appearing Before Image:
MEXICAN MOTMOT left this perch only when hungry or when the great heat of midday drove it to the shade of the tent or a neighboring tree. I will quote some notes which I made in my journal. The bill of this Motmot is large and deeply serrated or toothed on each edge, and when angry, after being teased with a piece of meat, the bird darts at and takes firm hold of ones finger and suffers itself to be carried, dangling, several yards before flying of?. The crown of the head and the neck are bright cinnamon, shading into a beautiful grass-green on the back and wings. The Motmots of our Mexican Camp 159 The large, soft brown eyes are surrounded by a ring of feathers, very small, circular, and black in color. Back of the eye is a broad tuft of black,banded above and below with beautiful blue. The breast is a most delicate emerald green, shot with pale blue, while exactly in the center is a twin black feathery pendant or tuft, similar to the eye-tufts.
Text Appearing After Image:
MOTMOT. SHOWING THE PENDULUM - LIKE WAGGING OF THE TAIL The most remarkable character about the bird is its tail, which is long and greenish blue in color, while the two central feathers, still longer than the others, are bare of barbs for about an inch of their length, each feather ending in a full-vaned racket. The strange thing about this ornament is the fact that it is produced by the bird itself. When the young birds attain their full plumage, the elongated pair of feathers in the tail are perfect from base to tip. Guided apparently by pure instinct, each Motmot begins to
i6o Bird- Lore
pick and pick at these feathers, tearing off a few barbs at a time with its bill. This is kept up until the tail is in the condition which is shown in the photograph, and at each succeeding moult the process is again repeated. This symmetrical denudation of the tail feathers might be instanced as a remarkable attempt at esthetic self-ornamentation on the part of the male bird to make himself more beautiful

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