ORGANS OF VOICE. 59 



and are so prized, that a fine, well-instructed bird, has been 

 known to sell for 4sl. 



We have spoken of our English Goat-suckers, but there 

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

 more interesting. In South America there are several sorts, 

 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 

 supposed to speak, and absolutely bewilder strangers on first 

 arriving 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 (Cotinga, carunculata). 

 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 onwards, in the solitude of the wilderness, when 

 the note of the Campanero fell upon their ear. " *' Listen,' 

 said my companion, ' did not you hear a church-bell ?' We 

 paused, and it tolled again ; and so strong was the resem- 

 blance, 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 



