Morning journal and courier., 1888-07-06
GUATEmALA,s BIRD OF LIBERTY.
The QuezzaI is Pictured on Postage
 Stamps, But seldom Seen Alive.

The QueZZaI is Pictured on Postage Stamps Hut seldom Seen Alive.
 "What do you call those birds?'' asked 8 visitor to the store of we'll known down town taxidermist, pointing to couple of fsathered creatures bound separately in pa per, with the tails and heads protruding, and showing gorgeous plumage. They were dried and ready for stuffing. The body of each, including the head, was perhaps five inches long, but throwing the tail into the measurement, either bird would have re- quired four foot tape to connect the point of its beak with the tip of it's longest tail ] feather. One of the birds had two long feathers in it's tail and the other had two shorter ones; but nature, as if to compen- sate for this disparity of plumage, had given the bi1d, that would otherwise have been clearly at disadvantage, third and middle feather that WAS very long indeed. Crests adorned the heads and white cotton had been stuffed into the eye cavities.
 This" said the dealer, tenderly taking one of them up in his hand, lis the quezzal, the bird of liberty of Guatemala. It is to be found only in a small portion of the coun- try, and is now very rarely seen at all. A
 gentleman who was recently in Central America managed to secure this pair and left
 them with me to be dressed and mounted
 the people down there being able only to
 dry and pfeserve them. Quezzal is to Guate-
 mala what the eagle is to the United States
 of America-its national bird. Its picture,
 rather distorted, is stamped oa many of
 Guatemala's coins and engraved on all the
 postage stamps of that country. Whether it
 took it's name from the ancient capital, or
 the old metropolis was called after it, is
 question not fully settled; but quezzal is the
 title of both. The quezzal has, as you must
 perceive, great personal advantages over the
 eagle, even in it's wild state, and we are all
 familiar with the bedraggled appearance of the oaged eagle.
 ''Now the quezzal is never caged longer than few hours. It is truly bird of lib erty and it dies almost immediately when captured. It's pride in it's rear feathers is evidently dearer than its love for life. When one of them accidentally gets soiled or bro- kena the bird goes to it's nest, sits down and dies. If it is caught in trap It is always found dead, and when the young birds are taken from the nest they die at once. Occa- sionally quezzal has been captured and in 6 few seconds restored to liberty, but the con- tamiHation of the hand could not be removed with the grasp, and it dropped lifeless to the earth before it had flown many yards. They are brought down for mercantile purposes, when the opportunity presents itself, with very small shot fired at long range. The quezzal builds round-roofed nest like the home of the wren, only instead of one hole there are two directly opposite each other. Thus the bird avoids the tail-breaking neces- sity of turning around to make its exit. It goes in at one side and out at the other, and the long feathers. which wave gently in the air, at resting time are slowly and cautiously drawn after it."