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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TOO-TUM |
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TRUMPETER , or TRUMPET-BIRD, the literal rendering in 1747, by the anonymous English translator of De la Condamine's travels in South America (p. 87), of that writer's " Oiseau trompette " (Mem. de l'Acad. des Sciences, 1745, p. 473), a bird, which he says was called " Trompetero " by the Spaniards of Maynas on the upper Amazons, from the peculiar sound it utters. He added that it was the "Agami " of the inhabitants of Para and Cayenne,' wherein he was not wholly accurate, since those (After Mitchell
White-winged Trumpeter (Psophia leucoptera). birds are specifically distinct, though, as they are generically united, the statement may pass. But he was also wrong, as had been P. Barrere (France equinoxiale, p. 132) in 1741, in identifying the " Agami " with the " Macucagua " of Marcgrav, for that is a Tinamou (q.v.); and both still more wrongly accounted for the origin of the peculiar sound just mentioned, whereby Barrere was soon after led (Ornith. Spec. Novum, pp. 62, 63) to apply to the bird the generic and vulgar names of Psophia and " Petteuse," the former of which, being unfortunately adopted by Linnaeus, has ever since been used, though in 1766 and 1767 Pallas (Miscellanea, p. 67, and Spicilegia, iv. 6), and in 1768 Vosmaer (Descr. du Trompette Americain, p. 5), showed that the notion it conveys is erroneous. Among English writers the name " Trumpeter " was carried on by Latham and others so as to be generally accepted, though an author may occasionally be found willing to resort to the native " Agami," which is that almost always used by the French. P. L. Sclater and O. Salvin in their Nomenclator (p. 141) admit 6 species of Trumpet-Birds: (i) the original
Ecuador (which is very likely1 Not to be confounded with the " Heron Agami " of Buffon (Oiseaux, ii. 382), which is the Ardea agami of other writers.the original
chief
bright pea-green. The habits of this bird are very wonderful, and it is much to be wished that fuller accounts of them had appeared. The curious sound it utters, noticed by the earliest observers, has been already mentioned, and by them also was its singularly social disposition towards man described; but the information supplied to Buffon (Oiseaux, iv. 49650,) by Manoncour and De la Borde; which has been repeated in many works, is still the best we have of the curious way in which it becomes semi-domesticated by the Indians and colonists and shows strong affection for its owners as well as for their living propertypoultry or sheepthough in this re-claimed condition it seems never to breed.' Indeed nothing can be positively asserted as to its mode of nidification; but its eggs, according to C. E. Bartlett, are of a creamy white, rather round, and about the size of bantams'. C. Waterton in his Wanderings (Second Journey, chap. iii.) speaks of falling in with flocks of 200 or 300 ` Waracabas, as he called them, in Demerara, but added nothing to our knowledge of the species; while the contributions of Trail (Mem. Wern. Society, v. 523532) and as Dr Hancock (Mag. Nat. History, 2nd series , vol. ii. pp. 490-492) as regards its habits only touch upon them in captivity.To the trumpeters must undoubtedly be accorded the rank of a distinct family, Psophiidae; but like so many other South-American birds they seem to be the less specialized descendants of an ancient generalized groupperhaps the common ancestors of the Rallidae and Gruidae. The structure of the trachea, though different from that described in any Crane (q.v.), suggests an early form of the structure which in some of the Gruidae is so marvellously developed, for in Psophia the windpipe runs down the breast and belly immediately under the skin to within about an inch of the anus, whence it returns in a similar way to the front of the sternum, and then enters the thorax . Analogous instances of this formation occur in several other groups of birds not at all allied to the Psophiidae. (A. N.)End of Article: TRUMPETER If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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