The American Bell-birds



213



THE AMERICAN BELL-BIRDS


We seldom see many species of the Gontigidse over this side of the

Atlantic, where they are only imported on very rare occasions.


In the Bird House at the London Zoo is one of the four species of

this bird, namely The Naked-throated Bell-bird or Ghaomorhynchus

nudicollis, which is an inhabitant of South-East Brazil. In the British

Museum Catalogue of Birds, Volume 14, is the following description :

White above and beneath, sides of the head and throat naked, with

small scattered bristles, bill black, feet brown, whole length 11 inches,

wing 6'2, tail'3*5’. Female, above green, eyes darker, beneath yellowish,

striped with green ; throat greyish with black strictions, crissum yellow.

The only other person so far as I am aware who has owned a specimen

of this bird is Mr. H. Whitley, who exhibited it at the Crystal Palace

Show in 1932.


The late Mr. H. Gurney, of Norwich, owned one of the species of

Bell-birds, but as I did not see the specimen, I am unaware which

one it was.


In the Bird Gallery at the Natural History Museum, London, are

the three following species exhibited :—


1. Ghaomorhynchus nireus. —Snow-white, head with a long thinly-

feathered caruncle arising from the front ; bill and feet black ; whole

length 10*5 inches, wing 6*5, tail 4. Female , above green, beneath

yellowish, variegated with green, crissum yellowish. Very common

in Museum collections. A very excellent account of this bird is given

in Waterton’s Wanderings in South America, page 180.


2. Ghaomorhynchus variegateus. —Pure white, head coffee-brown,

wings black, throat denuded and covered with small caruncles ; bill

and feet black, whole length 10 inches, wing 6'2, tail 2*4. Female ,

above green, head greyish, beneath pale yellowish, with green stria-

tions on the breast and belly, throat greyish, with finer striations.

Habitat: Guiana, Venezuela, and Trinidad. Mr. H. Whitley collected

this bird at Boraima, British Guiana.


3. Ghaomorhynchus tricarunculatus. —Clear chestnut brown, head

above and neck below pure white, three long naked caruncles, one

from the middle of the front and the two lateral forms under the



