204 



M A N A K I N. 



and very much on the alert ; and though the hunters 

 of that country seek after them with great avidity, it 

 is nol easy to shoot them. Residing in the dark cave, 

 even when that cave is not so pitchy dark as to re- 

 quire torch-light for exploring it, their eye sight is far 

 more keen than that of the hunter, who enters from the 

 clear and dazzling light of tropical sunshine ; and 

 thus, notwithstanding all the wariness with which he 

 endeavours to surprise them, the thunder of their 

 wings, as they escape by thousands, is often the only 

 evidence he has of their presence. In this again they 

 bear some resemblance to the rock pigeons. These pre- 

 fer a dark or twilight cavern to a more exposed situa- 

 tion ; and as the caverns which they haunt are chiefly 

 those on the shores, in wild and lonely places, where 

 they can be entered only from the sea, the sound of 

 ten thousand wings passes over, and literally stuns 

 any but the most experienced hunter in such places, 

 before he has the slightest chance of getting a shot. 



From the shortness and roundness of their wings, 

 the birds in question are not air birds to any very 

 great extent ; and they often alight upon the ground, 

 and probably subsist in great part upon ground insects 

 and larvae. They scrape the ground something after 

 the manner of poultry, of which they possess some of 

 the gestures ; and these may have given rise to the 

 inapplicable name of cocks of the rock. This name 

 is inapplicable, inasmuch as they have not the voices, 

 the general habits, or the fertility in a single brood of 

 the gallinaceous birds. How often they may breed in 

 the year is unknown ; but the circumstance of never 

 more than two eggs being found in a nest, while the 

 birds themselves are so very numerous, would lead us 

 to conclude that they breed frequently. In the coun- 

 tries where they inhabit, there are no circumstances 

 in the seasons which prevent the birds of the rocks 

 or the woods from breeding at one season more than 

 at another, because food is nearly in equal plenty at 

 every season. As many of the birds of such localities 

 breed only single pairs at a time, and repeat them 

 often, and yet are seen in greater numbers than birds 

 which are more fertile in the single brood, there is 

 some reason to believe that this is the most favour- 

 able mode of breeding ; because although it extends 

 more generally over the year, the food of a pair of 

 young is, of course, obtainable with less exertion on 

 the part of the parent birds than that of a greater 

 number. 



Though the nests of these rock birds are in the 

 clefts and irregularities of the cave, they are formed 

 of dry sticks, which the birds collect with considerable 

 assiduity ; but it is probable that the same nest serves 

 for many broods, as it is not exposed to the weather ; 

 and as the birds are not of a ranging disposition ; the 

 nest is usually very large in proportion to the size of 

 the birds, in order, no doubt, to preserve the eggs and 

 young from the cold damp of the rock on which 

 the nest is placed. 



These are rather handsome birds. The general 

 colour is bright orange brown, inclining to red. The 

 crest is formed of a double row of very close feathers. 

 Some white appears in the middle of the wing, and 

 the quills and coverts are brown, bordered with yel- 

 low. The greater number of the feathers are square 

 at the ends, as if a part were cut off. The bill and 

 feet are yellow. The length is about eleven inches. 

 The female is less than the male, of a uniform greenish 

 brown colour, and with a smaller crest. The young 

 are dull brown. 



Another species or variety is mentioned, inhabiting 

 the same countries, and having the same habits and 

 the same size, but with the quills and feathers of the 

 tail dark brown or nearly black. It does not appear, 

 however, that there is any difference between the two 

 upon which a characteristic distinction could be 

 founded ; and indeed it is more likely that the one 

 with the black feathers is merely an accidental va- 

 riety. 



CALYPTOMENES. This genus, of which only one 

 species is known, resembles the former in its general 

 structure, and in part also in its habits ; but it is very 

 different in appearance, and inhabits a part of the 

 world almost diametrically opposite, being found in 

 Sumatra, Java, and the adjoining islands. It is a 

 much smaller bird, being only six inches and a half 

 in length, and thus being not larger than a blackbird- 

 Its colour on the upper part is bright emerald green, 

 very brilliant and shining. There is a black spot on 

 the ear cover ; and the coverts of the wings are black, 

 with green tips, which form three beautiful bars 

 across the closed wing. The primary quills are 

 black, and the bill and feet brown. The i'emale is 

 grass green on the upper part, not so brilliant in the 

 lustre as the emerald green of the male ; and the under 

 part is paler green, clouded with darker patches. She 

 is without the crest on the head, and the black bars 

 on the wing coverts ; for only the tips of the quills 

 and the inner webs are black. Both sexes are, how- 

 ever, very beautiful birds ; but generally speaking 

 they live in places which have been little visited by 

 Europeans, and accordingly their manners are but 

 little known. 



Both these genera differ in their appearance, and 

 also in their habits, from the true manakins, though 

 there is as much similarity as induced the elder sys- 

 tematists, who did not attend very carefully to all the 

 characters, to include them in the same genus. They 

 are sufficiently allied, and sufficiently different from 

 any other of the dentirostral birds, for being formed 

 into a group ; but there is no question about the divi- 

 sion of this group into the three genera, of which we 

 have now to consider the last. 



PIPRA (the true manakins). These are smaller 

 birds than any of the others ; but like them they are, 

 generally speaking, remarkable for the beauty of their 

 plumage. There are many species of them, but they 

 are understood to be confined to the warmer parts of 

 tropical America, and to the West India Islands. 

 They differ so much from the others as to merit a 

 separate generic description. Their characters are : 

 The bill short, triangular at the base, where it is a 

 little enlarged in breadth, convex in the upper mandi- 

 ble, which is notched, and pointed in the under one. 

 The nostrils are placed at the sides of the base of the 

 bill, covered in part by a membrane which is orna- 

 mented with little feathers : the feet are of mean 

 length, but the middle toe is longer than the tarsus. 

 The situation of the toes, and the union of the exter- 

 nal and middle one, are similar to those of the two 

 former genera. The wings and tail are short ; and 

 the third and fourth quills are the longest in the wings. 

 They are beautiful little birds, which remain during 

 the heat of the day in the depths of the close forests ; 

 and in consequence they are but little seen in propor- 

 tion to their numbers. They inhabit peaceably ; and 

 do not range over the open plains, or approach the 

 plantations to display their bright colours, and levy 

 their contributions on the gardens, unless when the 



