316 MY LIFE 



be quite unlike any living thing. It may thus be a protection 

 against arboreal carnivora, owls, etc. It is, undoubtedly, one 

 of the most extraordinary of birds, and is an extreme from 

 the great family of Chatterers, which are peculiar to tropical 

 America. Strange to say, it is rather nearly allied to the 

 curious white bell-bird, so different in colour, but also pos- 

 sessing a fleshy erectile appendage from the base of the upper 

 mandible. The umbrella bird inhabits the lofty forests of 

 the islands of the lower Rio Negro, and some portions of 

 the flooded forests of the Upper Amazon. 



About the time when I was collecting these birds (January, 

 1850) a new species (Cephalopterns glabricollis) was brought 

 home by M. Warzewickz from Central America, where a sin- 

 gle specimen was obtained on the mountains of Chirique at an 

 elevation of eight thousand feet. This is a similar bird, and 

 has a crest of the same form but somewhat less developed; 

 but the main distinction is that a large patch on the neck is 

 of bare red skin, from the lower part of which hangs the 

 fleshy tube, also red and bare, with only a few feathers, form- 

 ing a small tuft at its extremity. This species is figured in 

 the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1850 " (p. 92), 

 and will serve to explain my description of the larger species 

 in the same volume (p. 206). Nine years later a third species 

 was discovered in the eastern Andes of Ecuador, which more 

 resembles the original species, but has the feathered dewlap 

 so greatly developed as to be nearly as long as the whole bird. 

 This is figured in The Ibis (1859, PI. III.). The white 

 species which I was told inhabited the Uaupes river has not 

 been found, and may probably have been confounded by my 

 informants with the white bell-bird. 



During the two ascents and descents of the Rio Negro 

 and Uaupes in 1850- 1852 I took observations with a prismatic 

 compass, not only of the course of the canoe, but also of 

 every visible point, hill, house, or channel between the islands, 

 so as to be able to map this little known river. For the dis- 

 tances I timed our journey by a good watch, and estimated 

 the rate of travel up or down the river, and whether paddling 

 or sailing. With my sextant I determined several latitudes 



