Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-02
GUATEMALA's BIRD OF LIBERTY.
Tho QueKzal Is Pictured on Postags
Stamps, but Seldom Seen Alive.

Tho QuexzaI Is Pictured Postage
Stamps, but Seldom Seen Alive.
"What 60 you call those birdsT asked q
visitor to the store of well known down
town taxidermist, pointing to a couple OF
feathered creatures, bound separately in
paper, with the tails and heads protruding,
and showing q gorgeous plumage. They
were dried and ready for stuff1ng 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 its longest tail
feather One OF the birds had two long
feathers in its tail, and the other had two
shorter ones; but nature, as if to compensate
for this disparity of plumage, had given the
bird, that would otherwise have been clearly
ut disadvantage, a 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, 'sis the quezzal,
OF bird Of liberty of Guatemala. 1t is to be
found only in a small portion of the country,
and is now very rarely seen at all A gentle
man 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
preserve them. Quezzal is to Guatemala
what the eagle is to the United States Of
Au,erica-its national bird Its picture,
rather distorted, is stamped on many Of
Guatemala's coins, and engraved on all the
postage stamps Of that country. Whether it
took its name from the ancient capital, or
the old metropolis was called after it. is a
question not fully settled; but queZEal 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 Gagged eagle.
"Now, the quezzal is never Gagged longer
than a few hours. 1t is truly bird Of
liberty, and it dies almost Immediately when
captured. Its pride in its rear feathers Is
evidently dearer than its love for life. When
one OF then accidentally gets soiled or broken
the bird goes to its nest, sits down and dies.
Ii it is caught in a trap it is always found
dead, and when the young birds are taken
from the nest they die at once. Occasionally
q quezzal has been captured, and IN q few
seconds restored to liberty, but tho contarni
nation OF the hand could not be removed
with the grasp, and it dropped hfeless to the
earth before it had fown many yards. They
are brought down for mercantile purposes,
when the opportunity presents itself, with
very small shot fired at long range. The
ouezzal builds round rooted nest, like tho
home OF the wren, only instead Of one hole
there are two, directly opposite each other.
Thus the bird avoids the tail breaking neoes-
sity Of turning around 30 make its eIit II
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