1894
March 26
(No 3)
Trinidad, B.W.I.
Caparo
  As I stood beneath the Bell Bird this afternoon his
bok at first made me actually jump each time it
was delivered. It also produced a fluttering vibration of
my ear drums which was disagreeable and somewhat
painful.
[margin] Song and
notes of the
Bell Bird. [/margin]
  At each utterance of this note the bird opens his bill to
its widest extent and throws his head forward and
down with a violent, convulsive jerk as if he were in
a passion and striking viciously at some rival. This jerk is
indeed so violent that the bird evidently has some slight
difficulty in maintaining his footing during its delivery
as well as in afterwards recovering his normal balance or pose.
  The second note, tuc, is much softer and less loud than
the bok and is delivered from six to eleven times in such
rapid succession that [delete] each tuc [/delete] the notes are run
together in an unbroken series. Despite this fact each
tuc is followed by a metallic ring which sounds exactly
like an  echo and appears to be of exactly the same
duration as the tuc. At first I could not believe [delete] despite [/delete]
that this ring was made by the bird which I was
watching for it seemed impossible that he could interject
it between the tuc notes and, moreover, it seemed to
come from another direction but after repeated observations
I became satisfied that it was really an integral
part of the tuc song (if song it be). While uttering these
notes the bird sits rather erect and perfectly motionless
save for a slight tremulous motion of the throat and
tail, which accompanies the delivery of each tuc. The tail
moves up and down - or rather down and up.