vol. Xin Brewster and Chapman on Trinidad Birds. 205 



1895 J 



The records of these two occasions were read aloud and endorsed 

 by each member of the party. From them we present the follow- 

 ing description of the Campanero's calls. The bird has three 

 distinct notes, the first bok, the second tui, the third tang. The 

 bok is by far the loudest and for this reason is the one most 

 frequently heard, and is doubtless the call alluded to by previous 

 writers.^ It can be heard in the flat forest at a distance of about 

 600 yards. Waterton, it may be remembered, says the "toll" of 

 C/iasmor/iync-/iiis niveiis may be heard at a "distance of three 

 miles." The bok is sometimes uttered with much regularity 

 about every ten seconds ; at other times longer or shorter inter- 

 vals may elapse. At a distance of four or five hundred yards it 

 resembles the stroke of an axe on hard, resonant wood. One 

 would now imagine that the bird was within seventy-five yards, 

 so deceptive is the nature of this note. As one approaches, the 

 call does not seem to increase in volume and one is apt to 

 imagine that the bird is retreating slowly from tree to tree. This 

 impression, however, is dispelled when one comes within one 

 hundred yards of the bird, for the sound then becomes much 

 louder until, as one gets directly beneath the caller, its volume is 

 simply tremendous. It now has a slightly rolling quality — 

 br-r-r-ock — and is so abrupt and explosive in character that it is 

 nearly as startling as the unexpected report of a gun. At each 

 utterance of this note the bird opens his bill to its widest extent 

 and throws his head forward and downward with a violent, con- 

 vulsive jerk as if he were in a passion and striking viciously at 

 some rival. This motion is so violent that the bird evidently has 

 some difi^culty in maintaining his footing during its delivery as 

 well as in recovering his balance afterward. 



The second note, tui, is much softer and is deUvered from six 

 to eleven times in such rapid succession that the notes form an 

 unbroken series. Despite this, each //// is closely followed by a 

 metallic ting which sounds exactly like an echo and appears to be 

 of about the same duration and nearly as loud as the note it sup- 

 plements The //// notes are given so quickly that at first it did 

 not seem possible for the bird to produce another note between 



1 Cf. Taylor, Ibis, 1864, P- 



