Bell-bird

Bell-bird (Chasmarhynchus), one of the chatterers (Cotingidae), found in some of the warm parts of South America, remarkable for the metallic resonance of its cry, which resembles the tolling of a bell, with pauses varying from a minute to several minutes. It is about the size of a jay; the beak is very broad, flat, and wide in its gape; the neck and cheeks are naked. The male is of snow-white plumage, and from his forehead rises a spiral tubular appendage nearly three inches in height when fully erected. The exact anatomical relations of the excrecence are not known. He generally takes his place on the top of a lofty tree, and his tolling can be heard to the distance of three miles. It resounds through the forest, not only at morning and evening, but also at mid-day, when the heat of the blazing sun has imposed silence on almost every other creature. The female is smaller, and brightly coloured. Four species are known.