Climbing birds. 283 



singular antics, of which I had heard stories from the Indians, 

 but had hitherto disbelieved them. Hearing the twittering 

 noise so peculiar to the Rupicola, I cautiously stole near, with 

 two of my guides, towards a spot secluded from the path 

 from four to five feet in diameter, and which appeared to 

 have been cleared of every blade of grass, and smoothed as 

 by human hands. There we saw a cock-of-the-rock, capering 

 to the apparent delight of several others, now spreading its 

 wings, throwing up its head, or opening its tail like a fan; 

 now strutting about, and scratching the ground, all accom- 

 panied by a hopping gait, until tired, when it gabbled some 

 kind of note, and another relieved it. Thus three of them 

 successively took the field, and then with self-approbation 

 withdrew to rest on one of the low branches near the scene 

 of action. We had counted ten cocks and two hens of the 

 party, when the crackling of some wood, on which I had 

 unfortunately placed my foot, alarmed and dispersed this 

 dancing party." The Bell Bird of Brazil; the Umbrella Bird 

 of the Amazons, the Broadbills, the Plant cutters, the Oven 

 bird, and the Ant-Thrushes are all included in this group. 

 The iiyre The Lyre Bird, which according to the classifi- 

 Bird. cation we are following, with the scrub bird, 

 forms the fifth group of the perching birds, belongs to Australia. 

 The Lyre Bird has been so often depicted in illustrations that 

 its form is familiar to most people. The tail of the male 

 bird which is composed of three different kinds of feathers 

 so beautifully resembles the Lyre that there could be no 

 hesitation in giving the bird its name. Since its discovery this 

 bird has been so hunted as to considerably reduce its num- 

 bers, and the tail feathers which at one time could be pur- 

 chased at a low price, have become rare and costly. 

 ORDER II '^^'^ order includes some widely different spe- 

 Climbers and cies and is made up of Scansores, Climbers and 

 Gapers. Fissirostres, Gapers. A few of the better known 

 species are all that we can mention. 



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