CHAPTER XIII. 



Brazilian Su 



I HIS bird is about the same size and shape as our 

 familiar friend " Bully" (a pet name of the English 

 Bullfinch), but differs from it in almost every other 

 respect, at kast when the latter wears his usual smart 

 attire, for his foreign prototype is habited in sable ot 

 the darkest hue, his only redeeming points of colour 

 being a narrow band of white across the wing, and a 

 lead-coloured bill which, by the bye, is thicker than 

 that of his European namesake. 



The gentleman who was kind enough to present me 

 with the first specimen of this species that I had seen, 

 spoke strongly in favour of its vocal attainments, which, 

 he affirmed, surpassed those of every other kind of 

 bird whatsoever ; indeed, so eloquent did he wax in its 

 praise that he actually, like Silas Wegg, " broke into 

 poetry" on its merits. Naturally I was curious to see 

 such a prodigy, and one day the gentleman called on 

 me in person and presented me with the only "Bicudp, M 



