122 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
sings alone^ but in harmony or concert with some half- 
dozen others^ chanting in the same glen. ... It regards 
the major and minor cadences,, and observes the harmony 
of counterpoint with all the preciseness of a perfect musician. 
Its melodies^ from the length and distinctness of each note, 
are more hymns than songs"^.^^ It is exclusively upon 
berries that the solitaire feeds. 
The Brazilian forests abound in finely-plumaged birds. 
Few are more striking than the bright orange-coloured 
^'^Cock of the Eock^^ [Ru^icola Brasiliana, Plate VIII. fig. 
3), a species about the size of a pigeon, and marked by the fine 
double-feathery crest, edged with purple/^ which crowns its 
head and extends even over its beak. The wings and tail 
have long plume-like feathers, which are very ornamental. 
Though named " Cock of the Woods,^'' and by the Spa- 
niards Gallo del Eio Negro,^^ and even placed by W aterton 
among the gallinaceous tribe,^^ this handsome bird has no 
affinity to poultry. It is truly one of the Passerine birds. 
Waterton, who often saw it in the interior of Demerara, 
amongst the vast forests of Macoushia, tells us that it passes 
the day in the midst of gloomy damps and silence, and, as 
far as his observation went, issued from its recesses in search 
* Letter to Mr. Gosse — ' Birds of Jamaica/ p. 202. 
