Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/289

276 most singular forms of animal and vegetable life, the Horned Screamer raises its extraordinary and startling voice at intervals above the incessant din of mingled cries, the croaking of myriads of frogs, and the ringing of insects. This wild scream, from which it derives its name, is said by Marcgrave to consist of the syllables vyhou, vyhou, uttered with a loud, clear, and shrill intonation.

The use of the long, slender, pointed horn with which the Screamer s forehead is furnished, is not apparent : Mr. Swainson believes that it is moveable at the base. There can, however, as Mr. Martin observes, be no possibility of mistaking the use of the shoulder-spurs. Snakes of various size, all rapacious, and all to be dreaded, abound in its haunts, and these formidable weapons enable the bird to defend itself and its young against the assaults of such enemies. If not attacked, however, the Screamer is an inoffensive bird, of shy but gentle manners. The male is contented with a single mate, and their conjugal union is said to be broken only by death.

Some writers have asserted that the Screamer feeds on reptiles; but it would rather appear, that it confines itself to the leaves and seeds of aquatic plants, to obtain which it walks on the matted floating masses of vegetation, or wades in the shallows. Its flight, as might be expected from the length and pointed character of the wings, is sweeping and powerful; on the ground its gait is stately, its head proudly erected, whence, probably, it was regarded by the older travellers, as allied to the Eagle.

The nest of this singular bird is made on the ground at the root of a tree, in which it lays two