Word: topknots
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What the eagle is to the U. S., the quetzal is to Guatemala. The quetzal (rhymes with pretzel) is a rare, lovely bird with bright green plumage, blood-red breast, fuzzy topknot, yard-long tail feathers. Quetzal is also the name of the Guatemalan money unit, and the bird's graven image appears on the national seal, coins, stamps. The quetzal was venerated by the ancient Aztecs, Toltecs and Mayas as a colleague of the plumed serpent god, Quetzalcoatl (rhymes with pretzelcowatle), god of metallurgy, agriculture, wisdom, health. Only priests and nobles could wear quetzal plumes in their headdress...
...from Shanghai by Shriner Hugh Caldwell, onetime Mayor of Seattle. He was joined by Nile, a female camel also brought from Shanghai by the Shrine, attended by a pony named Marguerite. When Imperial Potentate James McCandless of Hawaii pronounced them camel & wife, Potentate turned, gravely munched Nile's topknot bouquet of sweet peas...
...expedition set out from Addis Ababa in March 1928, reached its destination three and a half months later. The Danakils, especially those who had no feathers in their hair, gave them many an anxious moment. (A feather stuck in a Danakil topknot shows that a year has not elapsed since he killed a man.) Three of the expedition's carriers strayed too far from camp, never came back. Hottest day's temperature recorded was 168°F. Even in the shade it was unwise to touch a rifle-barrel. Because the temperature of the human body is only...
...English Springer Spaniel who had barely beaten out famed old English Setter Blue Dan of Happy Valley for best gun dog. The ribs and muscles of snow-white Greyhound Boveway Beau Brummel, best hound, looked like delicately chiseled marble. His kinky jet hair and the crimson ribbon on his topknot made French Poodle Whippendell Poli of Carillon, best non-sporting dog, look like a Harlem belle. The sixth dog was a magnificent black & tan Airedale, Warland Protector of Shelterock, best terrier, just arrived in the U. S. after a long string of victories in England. A good Airedale...
...Vera Cruz, Oaxaca and Tabasco and are sometimes cited as the first users of rubber. The tiger looks more like a pale green toad with a semi-human crested head making a horrid bawling grimace. It is about the size of a big apple, with holes in the topknot and sides, apparently for use as an ornament. Last week jade experts swarmed around the toad-tiger...