268 JOURNAL OF THE TRINIDAD 



the C natural string of a banjo, as Mr. Carr actually demon- 

 strated. It can be heard at a greater distance than the tui but 

 not so far as the hok and at two hundred yards would attract the 

 attention of only a practiced ear. 



While 'tanging' the bird sits rather erect, the head well up, 

 the wings drooping beneath the closed tail. At each utterance 

 the tail vibrates slightly, there is a marked swelling of the black 

 throat, and the mouth is opened to its widest extent, the lower 

 mandible being worked with some apparent effort while the upper 

 mandible and rest of the head are held perfectly motionless. 



Although probably an extremely local and not very active 

 species the bird was alert and watchful. Its movements were 

 quick, the head being often turned from side to side, or the vings 

 were twitched nervously, and at more or less regular intervals it 

 would turn squarely on its perch and face in the opposite direc- 

 tion. The fleshy appendages on the Bell-bird's throat resemble 

 bits of leather shoe-string. They hang loosely in the freshly 

 killed specimen and are then so conspicuous that we were 

 surprised to find they could not at any time be distinguished on 

 the living bird. 



The greenish plumage of the female Bell-bird renders it so 

 difficult of observation that even Mr. Carr was not familiar with 

 it. It was therefore a rare bit of good fortune for us that a 

 female of this forest-loving species so far departed from its normal 

 habit as to leave the woods and perch on the topmost branch 

 of a bois immortel which shaded the palm-thatch beneath 

 which we prepared specimens — an offered sacrifice we were not 

 slow to accept. 



The observations 1 of Mr. Chapman on the song-habit of the 

 ' Rachette ' Hummingbird (Pygmornis longuernareus) were con- 

 firmed by our discovery of a locality to which the birds evi- 

 dently came to sing, and Mr. Carr directed us to two resorts 

 regularly frequented by Pliaethomis guyi for the same purpose. 

 Both were in the forest where the trees were rather small and 

 slender and plentifully undergrown with roseau palms. One 

 locality was not far from the house. We visited or passed it 

 many times always hearing from one to six birds singing within 

 an ai'ea one hundred feet square. Each bird seemed to have its 

 own particular perch which we would find occupied day after day. 

 The song of this species is louder and has more character than 

 that of Pygmornis. It is an unmusical yepyep-yep uttered very 

 rapidly, and, when the bird is undisturbed, continued for several 

 minutes without break or pause. They sit erect but in an easy 

 attitude with the points of the wings drooping below the tail. 

 With every yep the long bill is thrown nearly straight up and the 



1 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist,, VI, 1894, p. 55. 



