570 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Insessores. CCCXC. fig. 4), has the front adorned by a very pecu- 

 v — " ~v~~"' liar tuft of feathers, which, rising upwards, and then 

 spreading around and drooping downwards, shades the 

 head, as it were, beneath a parasol. Another expanded 

 and lengthened set of plumes hangs in an apron-like fashion 

 from the breast. The prevailing plumage is deep black, 

 the parts first mentioned having a metallic lustre. The 

 bill of the only species known (C. ornatus) is robust, the 

 mandibles nearly equal, the upper being convex, without 

 notch, and scarcely bent at the extremity. This bird was 

 brought to Paris, from the Lisbon Collection, by M. Geoff. 

 St Hilaire, and was believed to have been sent originally 

 from Brazil. As that country, however, has been so much 

 explored without the Cephalopterus having ever since been 

 met with, it is more likely, M. Temminck thinks, to have 

 been obtained in the less-frequented countries of Peru, or 

 the coast of Chili. On the other hand, M. Lesson alleges, 

 that he was informed by a well-instructed Portuguese, that 

 the bird in question came from Goa. It is the Coracina 

 cephaloptera of M. Vieillot. We have no doubt it is a South 

 American species. 



From these singular birds we proceed to the Cotingas 

 or chatterers, genus Ampelis, Linn., a varied and beauti- 

 ful family, now partitioned into several minor groups. They 

 have all the depressed bill of the fly-catchers in general, 

 but it is rather shorter in proportion, broadish, and slightly 

 arched. 



Those in which the bill is the strongest and most point- 

 ed, with dilated margins, are characterized by an insecti- 

 vorous regime. These are the piahaus of South America, 

 genus Querula, Vieil. The species fly in troops through 

 the forests. Here are placed the Cotinga rouge of Vail- 

 lant, or Ampelis phcenicia, also the Ampelis cinerea and 

 Muscicapa rubricollis of Gmelin. In the ordinary Cotin- 

 gas (or genus Ampelis properly so called) the bill is more 

 ieeble, little elevated, deeply cleft. The species inhabit 

 moist places, and are remarkable for the rich and lustrous 

 plumage of the males during the breeding season. We 

 here place the Ampelis pompadoura, carnifex, and cotinga, 

 Linn. In the genus Bombycilla, Brisson, which includes 

 our European or Bohemian chatterer, the head is orna- 

 mented by an elongated crest, and the majority of the spe- 

 cies have the secondary feathers of the wings terminated 

 by a small oval expansion, resembling a bit of scarlet 

 sealing-wax. These birds prefer wild fruits to insects. 

 The appetite of the American species {A. Americana) is 

 stated by Mr Audubon to be of so extraordinary a nature 

 as to prompt it to devour every fruit and berry in its way. 

 In this manner it will gorge itself to such excess as to be 

 sometimes unfit to fly, and may then be taken by the 

 hand. " I have seen some which, though wounded and 

 confined to a cage, have eaten apples until suffocation de- 

 prived them of life." 1 Our author adds, however, that they 

 are also excellent fly-catchers, spending much of their time 

 in pursuit of winged insects. They become very fat during 

 the fruit season, and are then so tender and juicy as to be 

 much sought for as an article of epicurean diet. They 

 inhabit the United States throughout the year. The 

 habits of the European wax-wing (A. garrula) are much 

 less known. It not unfrequently visits Britain during win- 

 ter, and is supposed to breed within the arctic circle. It 

 likewise inhabits North America, but has not been ob- 

 served to the southward of the fifty-fifth parallel. Dr 

 Richardson observed a flock of three or four hundred on 

 the banks of the Saskatchewan in May. During their 

 trips to Britain they feed, when they can get them, on the 

 berries of the mountain ash ; and Sir William Jardine found 

 the stomachs of one or two killed near Carlisle to be cram- 



med with holly berries. A third species was some time ago Insessores. 

 discovered by Dr Seibold in Japan. It is the B. phceni- *■"■— ~ v— ' 

 coptera of Temminck, and wants the wax-like appendages 

 to the wings. 



In the genus Casmarhynchus, Temm., the bill is re- 

 markably broad, greatly depressed, soft and flexible at the 

 base, of a harder consistence, and somewhat compressed 

 towards the extremity. The nostrils are large and open, 

 and placed far forward on the bill. As an example, we 

 may name that singular bird the araponga (Cas. nudicollis, 

 Temm. PL Col. 368-83), a Brazilian species, remarkable 

 for the metallic resonance of its cry, which sounds like 

 the clinking of a blacksmith's hammer. By reason of this 

 peculiarity, it is known to the Brazilians by the name of 

 O. ferrador, or the blacksmith. The adult male is pure 

 white, the face and front of the neck nearly bare, of a 

 green colour, sprinkled with a few small black feathers. 

 The female is green, spotted on the under parts with 

 white, the upper plumage of the head nearly black. The 

 young at first resemble the mother, and adolescent males 

 are found with a mingled plumage of green and white. An- 

 other species, of nearly corresponding plumage, is distin- 

 guished by a long, fleshy, sometimes slightly feathered 

 caruncle, hanging from the basal front of the upper mandi- 

 ble. It is erectile, and sometimes projects upwards. This 

 is the Ampelis carunculata of the older systematic writers. 

 We presume it to be also the Campanero of the Spaniards, 

 called dara by the Indians, and bell-bird by the English. 

 " It is about the size of a jay," says Waterton. " His 

 plumage is white as snow. On his forehead rises a spiral 

 tube nearly three inches long. It is jet black, clothed all 

 over with small white feathers. It has a communication 

 with the palate, and when filled with air looks like a spire ; 

 when empty, it becomes pendulous. His note 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 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 

 goat-sucker, causes 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. 

 Actseon 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 beautiful 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." 2 In a third species 

 (Amp. variegaia, Gmel. PI. Col. 51, Plate CCCXC. fig. 

 10) the front of the throat is all beset with numerous 

 fleshy worm-shaped appendages. All these birds are 

 vaguely said to feed upon insects, but on no authority that 

 we can find. " Could we but know," says Mr Swainson, 

 " the habits and economy of these singular birds, which, 

 had they not been seen, might be thought fabulous, what 

 an interesting page of nature's volume would be unfold- 

 ed ! Yet at present we only know that they live in the 

 deepest and most secluded forests of tropical America, 

 where they subsist upon an infinite variety of fruits un- 

 known to Europeans. They are much oftener heard than 

 seen, since their notes are particularly loud, and are ut- 



1 Ornithological Biography, vol. i. p. 227. 



' Wanderings in South America, p. 121. 



