Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-12-19
THE MO1-MOT.
4 Rare and Curious Bird That Acts ~ ltl
Own Barber.

a Raro and Curious Bird That Acts ~ lt0
Own Barber.
The parrot-house is always well
worth a visit, and were its inmates less
noisy would no doubt be much more
1requented than 1t is, as it contains not
of all sorts and sizes, but also many
other very beautiful and interesting
birds. At the present time, however, q
bird Of more than ordinary interest is
to be seen in this house, which, though
aot new to the collection" will Ger
tainly be new to a very large majority
of the present visitors TO the zoo, as 1t
10 . very long time-how long we can
not say witz certainty. but at least
twenty years-since the last specimen
died here. The bird in question is q
mot-mot, presented about a week since,
and is to be seen in the large cage
nearest to the keepers room.
It has not yet been labeled, but is,
we believe, ''Momotus brasiliensis-" It
is an extremely striking, though not
very brilliantly colored, bird, about the
size of a jay, with a long tail; its bright
est color, most beautiful blue, forms
q band round the crown of its head,
which is black, and there are smaller
patches on its cheeks; it has a bold,
bright eye. the iris of which is red.
Its tail, however, is without doubt its
most noticeable feature, not SO much
from its length aud color as from the
extraordinary habit the bird possesses,
especially, it would seem, when ex-
citeH, of swinging it from side to side
after the manner, and with the regu-
larity of the pendulum of a clock, occa-
sionally varying the monotony of the
proceeding by jerking it straight up
over its back an odd habit calculated
to attract the attention of the least OBJ
servant
The mot-mots tail has the further
peculiarity that the two middle feath-
ers, which are longer than the others,
are racket-shaped at the end-that is to
say, that for about an inch the feather
is perfect, and then for another inch,
or rather more, the shaft is entirely de-
nuded of web This popularity has
given rise to some controversy. one
side contending that it is natural,
while the other AYERS that it is artif-
cial, being caused by the bird ITSELF
Waterton first drew attention to the
fact that the bird acted as its own bar
Der, and described the process as fol-
lows: This bird (the mot-mot or
houtou, as he called it, seems to sup
pose that it's beauty can be increased
by trimming the tail, which u2aergoes
the same operation as ones hair in a
BARRIERS shop, only with this differ
ence, that it uses its own beak, which
is serrated, in lieu Of pair of scissors.
AS soon as its tail is full grown it be-
gins about an inch from the extremity
of the two longest feathers in it, max
ing gap about an inch long Both
male and female ndonise their tails in
this manner, which gives them re-
markable appearance among all other
birds. While we consider the tail Of
the houtou blemished and defective,
were he to come among us he would
probably consider our heads, cropped
and bald, in no better light"
DR.. Murie, writing on the other side,
said:
''The story has found credence that
they nibble off the occasionally absent
vanes Of the long middle tail feathers,
but this notion has been contradicted."
This brought forth a reply from Mr..
Salvin, which can be found in the
"Proceedings Of the Geological Soci-
ETY." for 1878, and which appears to us
TO be conclusive He tells US that he
noticed a specimen which lived in one
of the cages in the par-ot-house all by
itself, and adds: "For a long time its
tail had perfect spatules, but toward
the end of its life 1 noticed that the
median feathers were no longer
trimmed with such precision, and on
looking at its beak noticed that, from
some cause or other, it did not close
properly, but gaped slightly at the tip,
and had thus become unfit for remov-
ing the vanes of the feathers" He
wrote to Mr.. Bartlett on the subject,
who replied:
During the several years tine mot
mot lived here I had many opportuni-
ties Of watching his habits, and I have
seen the bird in the act Of picking off
the webs of the central feathers of its
tail, and have taken from the bottom
of its cage the fragments OF web that
fell from the birds bill. AS the bird
lived here for some years its bill got
rather ont of order; that is, it did not
close properly at the point; and consc-
quently the picking off the web at last
was imperfectly performed, and the
two sides of the tail feather present
ed an unequal aud unfinished appear
ance'
Whether this racket-shaped end to
the tail be natural or artificial it is the
most noticeable in the specimen at the
zoo. Another popularity of the bird
though one not ordinarily visible, is
the tongue, which is long, "bifid for
half an inch, and feathered at the
sides" and much resem bles that OF the
toucan, with which the mot-mots were
formerly classed.
The mot-mots are natives of tropical
America, their range extending from
Mexico in the north, to Brazil and Para
quay, in the south; they are solitary
forest-hunting birds. The following is
Waterton's account of their habits, as
noticed by him in Demarara: 'He who
wishes to observe this handsome bird
in his native haunts must be in the for
est at the mornings dawn. The houtou
shups the society Of man; the planta-
tions and cultivated parts are too much
disturbed to engage it to settle there.