Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu/578

560 floating plumes, no gem-like feathers, and no brilliant colors. The head is dark-brown; the neck, light-brown; the upper parts of the body, wings, and tail, reddish chestnut; the breast and belly, white.

In Bennett's "Wanderings" is an interesting description of Mr. Beale's bird, at Macao. The writer says: "This elegant creature has



a light, playful, and graceful manner, with an arch and impudent look; dances about when a visitor approaches the cage, and seems delighted at being made an object of admiration. Its notes are very peculiar, resembling the cawing of a raven; but its tones are, by far, more varied. It washes itself regularly, twice daily, and, after having performed its ablutions, throws its delicate feathers up, nearly over the head, the quills of which feathers have a peculiar structure,