ORGANS OF VOICE. 



many of this family never seen in our island, and far more- 

 interesting. In South America there are several species whose 

 notes are so singular, that the natives look upon them with a 

 degree of awe and reverence, and will never kill them. They 

 have received names from the different words they are sup- 

 posed to speak, and absolutely bewilder strangers on first arriv- 

 ing in those parts. Thus, one of the most common will alight 

 close to the door, and, on a person going out, will flit, and 

 settle a few yards before him, crying out, " Who are you ? who, 

 who, who are you?" another calls out, "Work away, work 

 away, work away ! " a third, in a mournful tone, says, " Willy 

 come go ; Willy, Willy, Willy come go ! " while another, which 

 is also a very common one, is known by the name of Whip- 

 poor- Will, from constantly repeating these words. But the 

 most extraordinary note yet remains to be mentioned, that of 

 the Campanero, or Bell-bird, found in South America and also 

 in Africa. A traveller in the first-mentioned country speaks 

 of it as never failing to attract the attention of a passenger, at 

 a distance of even three miles, when it may be heard tolling 

 like a distant church-bell. When every other bird during the 

 heat of the day has ceased to sing, and all nature is hushed 

 in midnight silence, the Campanero alone is heard. Its toll 

 sounds, then a pause for a minute, then another toll, then 

 another pause, and then a toll, and again a pause. In Africa, 

 two travelling missionaries have given nearly the same account, 

 but at somewhat greater length. They were journeying on- 

 wards, in the solitude of the wilderness, when the note of the 

 Campanero fell upon their ear. " l Listen,' said my companion ; 

 ' did not you hear a church bell ? ' We paused, and it tolled 

 again ; and so strong was the resemblance, that we could 

 scarcely persuade ourselves that we did not hear the low and 

 solemn sound of a distant passing bell. When all was silent, 

 it came at intervals upon the ear, heavy and slow, like a death- 

 toll ; all again was then silent, and then again the Bell-bird's 

 note was borne upon the wind. We never seemed to approach 

 it, but that deep, melancholy, distant, dream-like sound still 

 continued, at times, to haunt us like an omen of evil" 



