460 
THE COCK OF THE ROCK. 
three weeks. • If he meets with stones in the course of the excavation 
he endeavours to remove them ; but if he proves unsuccessful, he leaves 
them where he found them, and digs at the side. The entrance-gallery 
is frequentl}^ I'endered very devious by such obstacles ; and sometimes 
the bird abandons the spot, and tries his foitune in another locality. 
When once the nest is complete, he dwells in it, unless disturbed, for 
several successive years. If the mouth of the tunnel should be enlarged 
by any accident, no more eggs are deposited there. The nests which 
have been inhabited are easily recognized by the quantity of heads and 
wing-s of drao'on-flies mixed with the bones of fish. 
Mr. Bates describes the kind of locality which the Brazilian king- 
fishers aff"ect. He speaks of a tract of level beach covered with trees, 
which form a beautiful grove. About April, v/hen the water rises to 
this level, the trees hang out a full array of blossom, and a handsome 
orchid, with large white flowers, which thickly clothes the trunks, bursts 
into luxuriant bloom. To this scene of sylvan beauty resort several 
kinds of kingfishers, and four species may be seen within a small space; 
the largest as big as a crow, of a mottled-gray hue, and with an enor- 
mous beak ; the smallest not larger than a sparrow. The large one 
makes its nest in the clay cliffs, three or four miles distant. The 
South American species, however, are not so brilliant as our English 
kingfishers. 
THE COCK OF THE ROCK. 
In strange places do the birds sometimes build their nests ! As, 
for instance, the cock of the rock, the KlijppenJiuhii of the Germans, 
the Rupicola crocea of naturalists, which inhabits the mountains and 
highlands of Guiana and north-eastern Brazil, in the neighbourhood of 
the great rivers. His nest is always planted in the clefts of the rocks 
and granite cliffs which hem in the rolling tide of the Orinoco ; attach- 
ing it to the stone with a resinous substance of singular adhesiveness, 
he makes it serve his purpose year after year. As soon as a brood has 
been hatched, the interior lining of roots and vegetable fibres and 
feathers is carefully renewed, and the exterior receives a fre.sh coat of 
resin. That our rupicola is a sociable bird, appears from the fact that 
several nests are often found in the same fissure or cranny. 
