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THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



tradict a gentleman who has been in Cayenne ; but we are determined as soon as a 

 Campanero is brought to England, to make him toll in a public place, and have the 

 distance measured." "In the midst of these extensive wilds," continues Waterton, 

 •'generally on the dried top of an aged mora, almost out of gun-reach, you will see the 

 Campanero. No sound or song from any of the winged inhabitants of the forest 

 causes such astonishment as his toll. With many of the feathered race he pays the 

 common tribute of a song to early morn, and even when the meridian sun has shut in 

 silence the mouths of almost the whole of animated nature, the Campanero still cheers 

 the forest ; you hear his toll, and then a pause for a minute ; then another toll, and 

 then a pause again, and then a toll and again a pause. Then he is silent for six or 

 eight minutes, and then another toll, and so on. He is never seen to feed with the other 

 Cotingas, nor is it known in what part of Guiana he makes his nest." But the most 

 remarkable songster of the Amazonian forest is the Realejo, or Organ-Bird. Its notes 

 are as musical as the flageolet. It is the only songster which makes any impression 

 on the natives. 



In the deep forests, which they never quit for the open plains, reside the Manakins 

 (Pipra,) pretty little birds, whose largest species scarcely attain the dimensions of the 

 sparrow, while the smallest are hardly equal to the wren. The plumage of the full- 

 grown male is always black, enlivened by brilliant colors, that of the female and of the 

 young birds greenish. Their flight is rapid but short, and they generally roost on the 

 middle branches of the trees. In the morning they unite in little troops, and seek 

 their food, which consists of insects, and small fruit, uttering at the same time their 

 weak but melodious notes. As the day advances they separate and seek the deepest 

 forest-shades, where they live in solitude and silence. 



The famous orange-colored Cock of the Rock of Guiana (Rupicola aurantia,) which 

 owes its name to its comb-like crest, is nearly related to the manakins. It is a great 

 rarity, even in its own country, and as it dwells in the most secluded forests, is but sel- 

 dom seen by travelers. Schomburgk relates the following wonderful story of the bird, 

 which, if not proceeding from so trustworthy a source, might almost be considered fab- 

 ulous. "A troop of these beautiful birds was celebrating its dances on the smooth 

 surface of a rock ; about a score of them were seated on the branches as spectators, 

 while one of the male birds, with proud self-confidence, and spreading tail and wings, 

 was dancing on the rock. He scratched the ground or leaped vertically into the air, 

 continuing these saltatory movements until he was tired, when another male took his 

 place. The females, meanwhile, looked on attentively, and applauded the performance 

 of the dancers with laudatory cries. As the feathers are highly prized, the Indians lay 

 in wait with their blow-pipes near the places where the Rupicolas are known to dance. 

 When once the ball has begun, the birds are so absorbed by their amusement, that the 

 hunter has full time to shoot down several of the spectators with his poisoned arrows^ 

 before the rest take the alarm." 



On penetrating into the wilds of Guiana, the pretty songsters called Troopials, pour 

 forth a variety of sweet and plaintive notes. Resembling the starling by their habits, 

 they unite in troops, and live on insects, berries, and seeds. The Variegated Troopial 

 ( Oriolus varius) displays a wonderful instinct in the construction of his nest, which he 

 generally builds on fruit-trees ; but when circumstances force him to select a tree whose 

 branches have far less solidity, as, for instance, the weeping-willow, his instinct almost 



