4 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



by any bird is that of the Campanero, or Bell Bird 

 Cotinga carunculata found in the wilds of South 

 America. 



Bishop Stanley tells us that " it may be heard at a 

 distance of three miles, tolling like a distant church bell, 

 when every other bird has ceased to sing in the noon- 

 tide heat of the day. It tolls, then pauses, and, after a 

 silent interval, is heard again. 



" Two travelling missionaries tell us that in the soli- 

 tude of the wilderness they heard the Bell Bird for the 

 first time. 



" ' Listen/ said my companion : ' did you not hear a 

 church bell ? ' 



" ' We paused ; it tolled again, like the low and 

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

 fell at intervals upon the ear, heavy and slow, like a 

 death toll ; then all was silent, and then again the Bell 

 Bird's note was borne upon the wind. We never seemed 

 to approach it ; but that deep, melancholy, dreamlike 

 sound still continued at times to haunt us, like an omen 

 of evil.' " 



Mr. Gosse, in his very interesting Romance of Natural 

 History, mentions another strange bird voice. He 

 says : 



"In the forests of Lower Canada, and the New 

 England States, I have often heard in spring a mys- 

 terious sound, of which, to this day, I know not the 

 author. Soon after night sets in, a metallic sound is 

 heard from the most sombre forest swamps, where the 

 spruce and the hemlock give a peculiar density to the 

 woods, known as the ' black growth.' The sound comes 

 up clear and regular, like the measured tinkle of a cow 



