CHATTERERS. 
533 
before they obtained specimens of the producer of them. Prince Maximilian describes 
these notes as resembling the sound of a clear-ringing bell, sometimes repeated 
at intervals, sometimes following each other in quick succession. In the latter case 
they are more like the sound produced by a blacksmith when he strikes a piece of steel 
upon an anvil, whence the bird has obtained its Portuguese name ferreiro (smith). 
The song is heard at all hours of the day, and when, as often happens, several of 
these birds are in the same neighbourhood, and begin singing against and answering 
one another, a most wonderful vocal concert is the result.” Of this extraordinary 
bird a liviug specimen was first acquired for the aviaries of the Zoological Society 
BANDED COTINGA (§ Bat. size). 
of London in May 1867. Shortly after it arrived in the Society s gardens it 
commenced its song, and continued to pour forth its peculiar notes at intervals of 
more or less frequency for several weeks. These notes have been described by an 
accurate observer in the following manner:—“ The first note is a loud, harsh, and 
somewhat grating noise; this is followed by six or eight fine, clear, metallic, ringing 
notes, with an interval of about a second between each of them. The resemblance 
of these to the sound of an anvil is most extraordinary. The clear metallic ring, 
repeated at about the same rate that a blacksmith strikes upon the anvil, is so 
perfect that many persons on hearing it are unwilling to believe the sound could 
be produced by the delicate organs forming the vocal apparatus of so small a bird.” 
So admirable is the imitation that, when the first bell-bird reached the London 
