The UMBRELLA BIRD, or UMBRELLA CHATTERER (_Cephalopterus ornatus_), is
one of the most extraordinary of birds, as far as regards the singular
ornaments with which it has been provided. It is about the size of
a Crow, and the whole of its plumage being of a deep black it has a
good deal of the corvine character in its aspect. Its head is adorned
with a large and spreading crest, which appears intended to act as a
parasol: this crest is composed of long, slender feathers, rising from
a contractile skin on the top of the head; the shafts are white, and the
plumes glossy blue, hair-like, and curved outwards at the tips. When the
crest is laid back the shafts form a compact white mass, sloping up from
the back of the head, and surmounted by the dense hairy plumes. Even in
this position it is not an inelegant ornament, but when fully opened its
peculiar character is developed. The shafts then radiate on all sides
from the top of the head, reaching in front beyond and below the tip of
the beak, which is thus completely concealed from view. The crest forms
a slightly elongated dome, of a beautiful shining blue colour, having
a point of divergence rather behind the centre, like that in the human
head. The length of this dome from front to back is about five inches,
the breadth from four inches to four and a half. As if this remarkable
crest was not enough to distinguish the bird amongst its fellows, it
is likewise furnished with a second singular ornament, resembling
which nothing is to be found in the feathered creation. This is a long
cylindrical plume, depending from the middle of the neck, and carried
either close to the breast, or puffed out and hanging down in front, the
feathers lapping over each other like scales, and bordered with fine
metallic blue. On examining this plume, it is found not to be composed
of feathers only; the skin of the neck is very loose, and from the lower
part grows a long, fleshy process, about as thick as a Goose's quill,
and an inch and a half long, to which the feathers are attached, thus
producing a beautiful tassel depending from the breast, and forming an
appendage as unique and elegant as the crest itself.
The plumage of this strange bird is of an almost uniform black; the
feathers on the mantle edged with dark greenish black; the crest is
blackish blue; the quills and tail-feathers deep black. All the small
feathers have white shafts; the eye is grey; the upper mandible blackish
brown, the lower greyish brown, and the feet pale black. The length of
this species is about nine inches and a half; the wing measures eleven
inches and three lines.
The Umbrella Birds are inhabitants of Peru, where they particularly
frequent the precipices on the eastern side of the Cordilleras, to an
altitude of 3,000 feet above the sea; and from thence are met with as
far as Rio Negro, and the boundaries of Chile. They associate in small
flocks, which subsist principally upon fruit of various kinds, and live
almost entirely at the summits of lofty trees. Their remarkable cry,
which resembles the lowing of a cow, is most frequently heard just before
sunrise and after sunset. We are entirely without particulars as to their
nidification and manner of breeding.
* * * * *
The BELL BIRDS (_Chasmarhynchus_)--so called from the resemblance of
their voices to a muffled bell--constitute a group with whose habits we
are much more familiar. Their body is compact, and about as large as that
of a Pigeon. The wings, in which the third and fourth quills exceed the
rest in length, are long, and extend as far as the centre of the tail:
the latter is slightly rounded at its tip. The beak is about half as
long as the head, and so much depressed as to be far broader than it is
high; the upper mandible is slightly arched, and curves somewhat at its
tip, behind which is a small tooth-like appendage. The gape is remarkably
large. The tarsi are short, and the toes long. The thick plumage is
composed of small feathers, and takes the form of bristles in the
region of the beak, which is also furnished with very remarkable fleshy
appendages resembling those possessed by the Turkey. The coloration of
the feathers varies very considerably, not only in the four species that
compose the group, but in the different sexes.