THE COCK OF THE EOCK 



861 



The Golden-winged Manakin is a very pretty bird, its plumage being brightly mottled 

 with black, yellow, and orange, which tints are arranged in a manner both bold and soft. 

 The wings are remarkable for the bright yellow feathers from which the bird derives its 

 popular name, and the crown of the head is decorated with a beautiful series of gradually 

 deepening plumes, of a golden yellow at the base of the bill and on the forehead, and 

 warming "into a rich ruddy orange towards the back of the neck, something like the croMm 

 of the fire-crested Eegulus. 



o OLDEN-WINGED MANAKIN.— Pipra ehry^optcra. 



The largest and the most showy of all the Manakins is the Cock of^ the Eock, so 

 termed on account of a slight external resemblance which it bears to the gallinaceous 

 form. 



It is a native of Southern America and Guinea, and, as it is a solitary and extremely 

 retiring bird, is but seldom seen except by those who go in special search of it. This bird 

 is remarkable, not only for the bright orange-coloured plumage with which its whole body 

 is covered, but for its beautiful crest, which extends over the head like the plume of an 

 ancient helmet. It generally frequents the banks of rocky streams and deep sombre 

 ravines, where it traverses the ground with much rapidity, by means of its powerful a^d 

 well-developed legs. As it is a solitary and very wary bird, it is seldom shot by white 

 men, the greater number of existing specimens having been procured by means of the 

 poisoned arrow thrown through the deadly sumpitan, or blow-pipe, of the Macoushi Indians. 

 As the skin commands a high price in the market, the Indians kill great numbers of the 

 birds, and are gradually thinning their ranks. 



During the daytime the Cock of the Eock retires into its dark hiding-place among the 

 rocks, and only comes out to feed before sunrise and just after sunset. Not only is it 

 never found in company with other birds, but it does not even seem to associate with 

 those of its own kind. The nest of this species is of a very slight description, and is 

 composed of little sticks, splinters of wood, and dry grasses, laid loosely in a hole of some 

 rock, and containing two white eggs. 



The colour of the Cock of the Eock is remarkably beautiful, and consists of a rich 

 orange tint, which dyes the whole of the plumage with the exception of the quill-feathers 

 of the wings, which are of a sooty-black hue, and those of the tail, which are brown, tipped 

 with yellow. The feathers of the head stand erect in a double row, with their extremities 

 uniting in a line corresponding with the central line of the head, and consequently form 

 a peculiar fan-like crest, which overhangs the forehead and extends quite to the back of 



