A GOLD MINE IN THE WILDERNESS. 177 



most efficient protection as it seemed to hold the vision, so 

 that several moments elapsed before the perching bird itself 

 could be located. 



The sombre, ashy females were not observed; certainly 

 they never joined in the flights with the cjuartet of males. 

 In the latter sex, a half dozen or more of the greater wing 

 coverts are stiffened and the webs curved around almost into 

 little tubes. We know practically nothing of the wild habits 

 of the Pompadour Cotinga but a most remarkable thing about 

 the color is that, by the application of a little heat, it turns 

 from deep reddish purple to pale yellow\ It is rather inter- 

 esting to compare this with the changing of the Purple 

 Finch from rose-red to yellowish in captivity. The Chat- 

 terers or Cotingas form one of the most interesting troj)ical 

 families of birds, and we lost no opportunity of studying 

 closely all whicli we observed. At Hoorie, beside the Pom- 

 padour Cotingas we saw the Black-tailed Tityra. '" In Mexico 

 we had seen a closely related species and liere again were the 

 strange "Frog-birds," with a little more black on the cap 

 and tail. 



We first observed a pair near the colony of Red-backed 

 Bunyahs in the creek bed, but as we were leaving the bunga- 

 low for the last time, our farewell was made all the harder 

 by discovering that the Tityras had begun to nest in a small 

 dead stub standing alone in the centre of the vegetable garden 

 and not twenty yards from the bungalow. 



The birds were having a hard time of it, carrying stiff, four- 

 inch twigs into a three-inch hole, but they were succeeding, 

 showing that they knew better than to hold the twig by the 

 centre. The whole head to below the eyes and including the 

 upper nape was black, while the bare skin of the face and the 

 basal two-thirds of the beak were bright red. The male was 

 uniformly pale bluish white, while his mate was distin- 

 guished by many rather faint streaks of black on the breast, 



