THE BELL-BIRD. 
119 
America call it ^ Scissor-tail/ Mr. Darwin^ describes it as 
being very common near Buenos Ayres. ' It sits on the 
branch of a tree^ flying a short way after insects, and return- 
ing to the same spot. When in the air it can turn very 
shortly ; and, in doing so, opens and shuts its tail in a hori- 
zontal, lateral, or vertical direction, like a pair of scissors. 
In the air it has some resemblance to a common swallow, 
both in its flight and general appearance. 
The family AmpelidtE contains many finely-coloured birds, 
chiefly found in the warmer parts of the world ; one species 
only, the Bohemian Wax-wing, is an occasional visitant to 
the British Islands. 
Waterton has made many a reader familiar with one 
species of this group. It is the Bell-bird, or Campanero of 
Demerara {Procnias camnculata, Plate YIII. fig. 2), a white 
bird, as large as our jay. On its forehead rises a spire nearly 
three inches long. This is tubular, and communicates, it 
would seem, with the palate : when empty, it is pendulous; 
when filled with air, it is erect. It is covered with a deep- 
black skin, dotted over with small white feathers. This 
species is one of the few South American tropical birds which 
are heard during the sultry heat of noon ; at such a time he 
* Journal, p. 163. 
