THE VOICE. 
53 
call of the Goat-sucker (Whip-poor-Will), is productive of 
so much astonishment to the hearer as the tones of the 
Bell-bird. Like many others of the feathered tribe he 
greets both morn and even with his song; and yet, when 
the ardent sun’s rays lull all nature into stillness, his 
cheerful tones ring through the silent forest. One hears 
the notes, and then there is a minute’s pause; again, the 
bell-like sound; then another interval of silence ; a third 
time this takes place, when, after a pause of six or eight 
minutes, the song bursts out afresh. Acteon would turn 
from the wildest chase ; Marie cease her evening hymn, 
—Aye! Orpheus, himself, would forego his lute to hear 
this bird—so full, so fresh, and so romantic is the ring of 
his melodious song.” 
“ No song,” says Schomburck, “no note of any single 
one of the feathered denizens of the forest has ever 
caused me such astonishment as the clear tones of the 
Bell-bird. That the birds of Guiana have the gift of 
speech, I had already discovered with my first steps in 
this extraordinary portion of the globe; but such tones, 
until then, it had never been my lot to hear.” 
There is a similar songster,—the best, perhaps, in the 
forests of South America,—the Cayenne Wren (Cypho- 
rhinus cantans ), allied to our Wren ( Troglodytes ): it is often 
heard, but rarely seen. Poppig writes thus of it:— 
“ Listening, one remains, at the same time, rooted to 
the spot, as its notes, which can only be compared to the 
sound of a small glass-bell, continuously modulated, with 
simply the strictest regard to the intervals, are blended 
into one regular melody, which falls lightly and slowly on 
the ear from the topmost branches of the trees. There 
is something so indescribably soft, one may say ethereal, 
in this bell-music, the charm of which is enhanced by 
