402 The Bell-birds of America. 



alike remarkable for very curious peculiarities in structure and 

 habits, that I now propose to call attention. 



The genus Chasmorhynchus of naturalists embraces four 

 species of birds, each inhabiting a distinct region of tropical 

 America, of about the same size as the missel-thrush of Europe, 

 but essentially different in structure. Their general form is 

 much the same as that of the typical Cotingas, but they have a 

 more depressed bill and wider gape, and their nostrils placed 

 further forward. The wings are long and pointed, indicating 

 extensive powers of flight. The feet and legs are moderately 

 strong. The tarsi are covered in front with a series of six or 

 seven horny shields; behind with numerous much smaller 

 reticulated scales. The outer and middle toes are united 

 together at their bases to the end of their first phalanx. These 

 two last characters, together with the possession of ten well- 

 developed primaries in the wings, are marked features of the 

 family Cotingidce, to which this genus belongs. Eut the most 

 special external character which distinguishes the Bell-birds 

 from other genera of the same family is the development in 

 the adult male of naked skin and fleshy wattles in various 

 parts of the head and neck. In all of the known species the 

 adult male is either wholly or partly of a pure snowy white, 

 with more or less of these cutaneous developments, and the 

 female of a dull green above and yellowish below, without any 

 of the peculiar excrescences of the head and neck which 

 distinguish the male sex. Having said thus much about the 

 general features of the genus, I will now say a few words about 

 each of the four known species of this curious group, commenc- 

 ing with the Brazilian Chasmorhynchus nudicollis, of which a 

 coloured illustration is given, drawn from the adult male in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society. 



In the naked-throated or Brazilian Bell-bird, the adult male 

 is wholly of a pure snowy white. The space round the eyes 

 and throat are covered with a naked fleshy skin, which is very 

 sparingly clothed with minute black feathers, only distinguish- 

 able on close examination. In the breeding season this naked 

 skin becomes of a fine green colour, which disappears during 

 the rest of the year. The female, as has been already stated, 

 is a very different-looking bird — being of a dull green above, 

 with a blackish head, and yellowish, flammulated with green, 

 below. Nor has she any trace of the naked throat and face 

 which are the characteristics of the male sex. 



This Bell-bird was first made known to science by the 



French naturalist Vieillot,* in 1815, from specimens in the 



collection of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. But the best, 



and, in fact, only good description of it in a state of nature is 



* Xouv. Diet. a" Hist. Nat., viii., p. 16L 



