SOUTH AMERICA. 121 



when empty, it becomes pendulous. His note 



r J JOURNEY. 



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 then a toll, and again a pause. Then 

 he is silent for six or eight minutes, and then 

 another toll, and so on. Acteon would stop in 

 mid chase, Maria would defer her evening song, 

 and Orpheus himself would drop his lute to listen 

 to him; so sweet, so novel, and romantic is the 

 toll of the pretty snow-white campanero. He 

 is never seen to feed with the other cotingas, 

 nor is it known in what part of Guiana he makes 

 his nest. 



While the cotingas attract your attention by Thetou- 



/ can. 



their superior plumage, the singular form of 

 the toucan makes a lasting impression on your 



