FLY-CATCHER. 173 



perched. The clearness of sight in hirds is indeed prodigious, 

 and has heen calculated hy an eminent naturalist (Lacepede) 

 to be nine times more extensive than that of the farthest- 

 sighted man. 



The foreign varieties of this kind are, many of them, of 

 exquisite beauty in plumage, and elegance in form ; we may 

 mention, for example, the Paradise Fly-Catcher. 



Of the fourth genus, (the Cotingas,) we have but one 

 species in England, and that but rarely seen, the Silk-tail, or 

 Waxen Chatterer, from the secondary quills of the wings 

 being ornamented with a flat horny substance, of a bright 

 vermilion colour, looking like red sealing-wax. In foreign 

 countries, however, there are many varieties, amongst others, 

 the singular Bell-bird, of which we have spoken. It is about 

 the size of a Jay, of a pure white, with nothing remarkable 

 in its appearance, except that from the junction of the forehead 

 and base of the beak, a long fleshy sort of slender wattle hangs 

 down ; the bird has, however, the power, either by filling it 

 with air, or exciting the muscles, of rendering it quite stiff, 

 when it sticks up like a horn of about two inches in length. 

 We have alluded to the probability of this odd appendage, 

 in some way or other, being the cause of the deep bell-toned 

 sound of its note, the air it contains probably contributing to 

 its utterance. 



Of the Tanagras (Table VII., p. 12,) we have not one in 

 Europe ; which is much to be lamented, for although they 

 would not enliven our groves with their song, the brilliancy 

 of their plumage would make ample amends. In the dif- 

 ferent species, every colour, in its brightest hue, may be 

 found, sometimes mingled together, as in the Painted Tanager 

 (Tanagra picta), where the brightest shades of green, blue, 

 orange, and black, are so intermingled as to render it, when 

 exposed to the full rays of the sun, almost dazzling to look 

 upon. In another, the Scarlet Tanager, there are only two 

 colours ; but so contrasted, as to produce the strongest effect ; 

 the wings and tail appearing like the deepest shade of jet- 

 black velvet ; while the rest of the bird is of the deep crimson 

 blood-red colour of the fleshy part of a ripe cherry. Its note 



