154 IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



of Cyphorhinus common in that country. It was 

 the mellowest, most beautiful bird music he had 

 ever heard; the song was not quite the same in 

 all individuals, and in tone resembled the most 

 sweet-sounding flute; the musical correctness of 

 the notes was astonishing, and made one imagine 

 the sounds to be produced by human agency. 



Even more valuable is the testimony of Bates, 

 one of the least impressible of the savants who 

 have resided in tropical South America; yet his 

 account of the bird is not less fascinating than 

 that of D'Orbigny. "I frequently heard," he 

 writes, "in the neighborhood of these huts the re- 

 ale jo, or organ-bird (Cyphorhinus cantans), the 

 most remarkable songster by far of the Amazonian 

 forest. When its singular notes strike the ear for 

 the first time the impression cannot be resisted 

 that they are produced by a human voice. Some 

 musical boy must be gathering fruits in the 

 thicket, and is singing a few notes to cheer him- 

 self. The tones become more fluty and plaintive ; 

 they are now those of a flageolet, and notwith- 

 standing the utter impossibility of the thing, one 

 is for a moment convinced that some one is play- 

 ing that instrument. ... It is the only songster 

 which makes an impression on the natives, who 

 sometimes rest their paddles whilst traveling in 

 their small canoes, along the shady by-paths, as 

 if struck by the mysterious sound." The sound 

 must be wonderful indeed to produce such an 

 effect ! 



