THE PASSERINE BIRDS in 



a song comparable to that of such musicians as the Nightingale 

 or the Thrush or the Mocking-bird. But it is not, we may repeat, 

 the quality of the song so much as the number of the song muscles 

 and their arrangement that is regarded in this connection. 



The lowliest of the Clamatores are the birds known as the Broad- 

 bills, or Eurylaemi, some of which are very beautiful. Very nearly 

 allied to these are the Cotingas ; and of these the most gorgeous is 

 perhaps the Cock-of-the-rock (Plate XXI. fig. 8). This bird, a 

 native of Guiana and Amazonia, is as remarkable in its love-making 

 as in its coloration. When courting, some twenty or so, males and 

 females, gather together, when the males immediately commence a 

 weird kind of dance, during which they droop their wings, wave 

 their crests from side to side, and hop along with most peculiar stepSj 



Nearly allied to the Cock-of-the-rock are the Bell-birds, also of 

 South America. Of the four species known, all are remarkable. One 

 species, pure white in colour, has a long, fleshy wattle, hanging from 

 the base of the beak like the wattle of a turkey. When the bird 

 is excited, it becomes turgid, and stands straight up in the air ! But 

 beside this it also possesses a remarkable voice, a gift, however, which 

 it shares with its relatives. The Naked-throated Bell-bird 

 (Plate XXV. fig. 3) may serve as an example of this. The home of 

 this bird is in Brazil, the gloomy forests of which are made to resound 

 with its wonderful notes. These resemble the sounds made by some 

 clear ringing bell, or, according to some travellers, the sound produced 

 by a blacksmith when he strikes a piece of steel on an anvil. The 

 song is heard at all hours of the day, and when, as often happens, 

 several of these birds are in the same neighbourhood, and begin 

 singing against, and answering, one another, a most wonderful 

 concert is the result. 



The American ** Wood-hewers," Oven-birds, Tyrant-birds, and a 

 number of other related forms belong to this group, but space forbids 

 a more lengthy reference here. 



5u6=or(/er— OSCINES 



We pass now to the second of our two great groups of Passerine 

 birds. This group, which is divisible into two sections, is made up 



