180 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



and pointed, being shaped quite different from those of any 

 other bird. When you are betwixt this bird and the sun 

 in his flight, he appears uncommonly brilliant. He makes 

 a hoarse noise, which sounds like " Wallababa." Hence 

 his name amongst the Indians. 



None of these three cotingas have a song. They feed on 

 the hitia, siloabali, and bastard-siloabali seeds, the wild 

 guava, the fig, and other fruit trees of the forest. They 

 are easily shot in these trees during the months of Decem- 

 ber, January, and part of February. The greater part of 

 them disappear after this, and probably retire far away to 

 breed. Their nests have never been found in Demerara. 



The fifth species is the celebrated Campanero of the 

 Spaniards, called Dara by the Indians, and Bell-bird by the 

 English. He is about the size of the jay. His plumage is 

 white as snow. On his forehead rises a spiral tube nearly 

 three inches long. It is jet black, dotted all over with 

 small white feathers. It has a communication with the 

 palate, and when filled with air, looks like a spire ; when 

 empty, it becomes pendulous. His note is loud and clear, 

 like the sound of a bell, and may be heard at the distance 

 of three miles. In the midst of these extensive wilds, 

 generally on the dried top of an aged mora, almost out 

 of gun reach, you will see the campanero. No sound or 

 song from any of the winged inhabitants of the forest, not 

 even the clearly pronounced " Whip-poor- Will," from the 

 goatsucker, cause such astonishment as the toll of the 

 campanero. 



With many of the feathered race, he pays the common 

 tribute of a morning and an evening song ; and even when 

 the meridian sun has shut in silence the mouths of almost 

 the whole of animated nature, the campanero still cheers 

 the forest. You hear his toll, and then a pause for a 

 minute, then another toll, and then a pause again, and 



