FLY- CATCHER. 
173 
perched. The clearness of sight in birds is indeed prodigious, 
and has been calculated by an eminent naturalist, (Lacepede,) 
to be nine times more extensive than that of the farthest- 
sighted man. 
The foreign varieties of this kind are, many of them, of 
exquisite beauty in plumage, and elegance in form ; we may 
mention, for example, the Paradise Ply- Catcher. 
Of the fourth genus, (the Cotingas,) we have but one 
species in England, and that but rarely seen, the Silk-tail, or 
Waxen Chatterer, from the secondary quills of the wings 
being ornamented with a flat horny substance, of a bright 
vermilion colour, looking like red sealing-wax. In foreign 
countries, however, there are many varieties, amongst others, 
the singular Bell- Bird, of which we have spoken. It is about 
the size of a Jay, of a pure white, with nothing remarkable 
in its appearance, except that from the junction of the forehead 
and base of the beak, a long fleshy sort of slender wattle hangs 
down ; the bird has, however, the power, either by filling it 
with air, or exciting the muscles, of rendering it quite stiff, 
when it sticks up like a horn of about two inches in length. 
We have alluded to the probability of this odd appendage, 
in some way or other, being the cause of the deep bell-toned 
sound of its note, the air it contains probably contributing to 
its utterance. 
Of the Tanagras (Table YII., p. 12,) we have not one in 
Europe ; which is much to be lamented, for although they 
would not enliven our groves with their song, the brilliancy 
of their plumage would make ample amends. In the dif- 
ferent species, every colour, in its brightest hue, may be 
found, sometimes mingled together, as in the Painted Tanager 
(Tanagra joicta), where the brightest shades of green, blue, 
orange, and black, are so intermingled as to render it, when 
exposed to the full rays of the sun, almost dazzling to look 
upon. In another, the Scarlet Tanager, there are only two 
colours ; but so contrasted, as to produce the strongest effect ; 
the wings and tail appearing like the deepest shade of jet- 
black velvet ; while the rest of the bird is of the deep crimson 
blood-red colour of the fleshy part of a ripe cherry. Its note 
