Note J — Chapter X · JUNGLE LIFE AT AREMU. SOME PAGES FROM MY DIARY (continued). (By C. William Beebe.)

There were several intervening branches, and two or three links in the performance were not clear until I returned north.

Col. Anthony R. Kuser has most kindly put his splendid aviaries at Bernardsville, New Jersey, at my disposal for scientific investigation, and here, for a month or more after our return, a male Curassow would go through this whole performance for the benefit of anyone who would watch him. After the various “stunts” had been performed, he would fly at the feet of the observer and, wrapping his wings about one’s shoes, would peck savagely at the shoestrings. From this and other indications I decided that the performance is more in the nature of a challenge than a courtship display.