!j^i4:i4tj 



THE UMBRELLA lilllD.* 



In thus passing from family to familjs and from individual to individual of the 

 feathered tribes, wc can scarcely fail to be struck with our familiarity -with some of tliom, 

 acquired, however, more probably from the statements of the naturalist and the repre- 

 sentations of the artist, than from actual observation. "When, on one occasion, the 

 question was put, "How many birds can you count up that you actually know ?" — the 

 answer, wliich was supjjosed at first likely to include many, comprised leally very few ; — 

 a residt which would often arise, were the question still repeated. 



At other times the object presented to our view is unquestionably strange, and so it is 

 in the present insfance. Tliis bird, equally curious and beautiful, yet still very rare 

 in our Ornithological collections, is brought from the country bordering the rh'er 

 Amazon. Its name is derived from the full outspreading phnncs which tower above 

 its head, reseml)ling the horse-tail crest of tlic helmets of Greece. It is about the size of 

 a jay ; i'rom the upix-r part of tlie chest depends a sort of apron or screen, of square-edged 

 feathers, which is very graceful. The tail is graduated. The whole of the plumage 

 is jet black, with ricli violt't reflexions, espc-cially on the chest and crest jjhimes. 



• Ccpliuloptenis. 



