1 82 cassell's book of birds. 



a contractile skin on the top of the head ; the shafts are white, and the plumes glossy blue, hair-like, 

 and curved outwards at the tips. When the crest is laid back the shafts form a compact white 

 mass, sloping up from the back of the head, and surmounted by the dense hairy plumes. Even in 

 this position it is not an inelegant ornament, but when fully opened its peculiar character is developed. 

 The shafts then radiate on all sides from the top of the head, reaching in front beyond and below 

 the tip of the beak, which is thus completely concealed from view. The crest forms a slightly 

 elongated dome, of a beautiful shining blue colour, having a point of divergence rather behind the 

 centre, like that in the human head. The length of this dome from front to back is about five inches, 

 the' breadth from four inches to four and a half. As if this remarkable crest was not enough to 

 distinguish the bird amongst its fellows, it is likewise furnished with a second singular ornament, 

 resembling which nothing is to be found in the feathered creation. This is a long cylindrical plume, 

 depending from the middle of the neck, and carried either close to the breast, or puffed out and 

 hanging down in front, the feathers lapping over each other like scales, and bordered with fine 

 metallic blue. On examining this plume, it is found not to be composed of feathers only ; the skin 

 of the neck is very loose, and from the lower part grows a long, fleshy process, about as thick as a 

 Goose's quill, and an inch and a half long, to which the feathers are attached, thus producing a 

 beautiful tassel depending from the breast, and forming an appendage as unique and elegant as the 

 crest itself. 



The plumage of this strange bird is of an almost uniform black ; the feathers on the mantle 

 edged with dark greenish black ; the crest is blackish blue ; the quills and tail-feathers deep black. 

 All the small feathers have white shafts ; the eye is grey ; the upper mandible blackish brown, the 

 lower greyish brown, and the feet pale black. The length of this species is about nine inches and 

 a half; the wing measures eleven inches and three lines. 



The Umbrella Birds are inhabitants of Peru, where they particularly frequent the precipices on 

 the eastern side of the Cordilleras, to an altitude of 3,000 feet above the sea; and from thence are 

 met with as far as Rio Negro, and the boundaries of Chili. They associate in small flocks, which 

 subsist principally upon fruit of various kinds, and live almost entirely at the summits of lofty trees. 

 Their remarkable cry, which resembles the lowing of a cow, is most frequently heard just before 

 sunrise and after sunset. We are entirely without particulars as to their nidification and manner of 

 breeding. 



The BELL BIRDS (Chasmarhynchus) — so called from the resemblance of their voices to a 

 muffled bell — constitute a group with whose habits we are much more familiar. Their body is 

 compact, and about as large as that of a Pigeon. The wings, in which the third and fourth quills 

 exceed the rest in length, are long, and extend as far as the centre of the tail : the latter is slightly 

 rounded at its tip. The beak is about half as long as the head, and so much depressed as to be 

 far broader than it is high ; the upper mandible is slightly arched, and curves somewhat at its tip, 

 behind which is a small tooth-like appendage. The gape is remarkably large. The tarsi are short, 

 and the toes long. The thick plumage is composed of small feathers, and takes the form of bristles 

 in the region of the beak, which is also furnished with very remarkable fleshy appendages resembling 

 those possessed by the Turkey. The coloration of the feathers varies very considerably, not only in 

 the four species that compose the group, but in the different sexes. 



■ 

 THE BARE-NECKED BELL BIRD. 



The Bare-necked Bell Bird (Chasmarhynchus nudicollis). This bird, which is called "The 

 Blacksmith " by the Brazilians, is entirely of a pure snow-white, with the exception of the bridles 



