CERTHIOLA OR PITPIT. 
87 
even beyond the point of the beak; the individual feathers then 
stand out something like the downy seeds of the dandelion. Any 
bird might be satisfied with such an heraldic appendage as this ; 
but the umbrella-bird has yet another distinction : on his breast 
he carries a large pendent plume or tassel of glossy feathers, which 
grow from a fleshy tubercle, as thick as a quill, and an inch and 
a half in length. This, too, can be expanded until it almost 
conceals the fore part of the body, or otherwise is pressed to the 
bird's breast until it is scarcely visible. As is generally the case, 
the female is a smaller and much plainer bird, and cannot boast 
of so finely developed a crest and neck-plumes. 
The umbrella-bird is a fruit-eater, and makes his home among 
the tallest branches of the high trees. From the sonorous depth of 
his cry, the Indians call him weramimbe, or "trumpet-bird." 
By a natural association of ideas we are led from the umbrella-bird 
to the sun-bird ; or rather to his South American representative, a 
member of the sun-bird family (PromeropidcB), the certhiola or pit- 
pit. This is one of those beautiful elfin creatures, with sparkling 
plumage and lively motions, which, like the humming-bird, would 
certainly have been promoted to a high place in Titania's court, had 
the poets but known of him. With the humming-bird he is frequently 
found in company ; they visit the same flowers, and for the same pur- 
pose. But he does not hover in front of them like his splendid rival ; 
on the contrary, he perches on the plant, and, leaping from branch to 
branch, thrusts his inquiring bill (the French class the certhiola among 
les Investigateurs, — die Spdher of the Germans) into the recesses of 
the many-tinted corollas. Most interesting is it to watch the singular 
and various postures which he then assumes ; at times he turns himself 
" head over heels," with his back downwards, while his sharp, curved 
bill and his pencil-like tongue are busily engaged in snapping up the 
tiniest insects. He generally builds in low bushes, side by side with the 
nests of the paper-wasps. It is noticeable that the same situation is 
sought by other birds, — whether from a sense that these formidable 
insects supply a means of protection, we cannot presume to determine. 
