The Umbrella Bird

When CHARLES CORDIER arrived from Costa Rica on October 9, 1942, bringing with him, among other great rarities, three Bare-necked Umbrella Birds (Cephalopterus ornatus glabricollis), it seemed to us that the mere possession of such fabulous creatures was satisfaction enough. True, they were not beautiful — some realists have even gone so far as to name them “ugly” — and like all Cotingas, they were definitely dull. But in spite of all, they really were Umbrella Birds and if we could solve the problem of their long term requirements, they must reveal to us much that had been unknown. For only once before, as far as we can learn, has an Umbrella Bird been kept in captivity in either Europe or North America. According to a note by FRANK FINN in ‘Avicultural Magazine’ for October, 1909, this was a young bird owned in England by Mr. H. C. MOLINEAUX, a private aviculturist. Nothing beyond the arrival of the bird is recorded. With nothing whatever to guide us, beyond CORDIER’S brief experience, we put the adult male and the female together in one cage and an immature male in another. The cages seemed large enough and both wre planted with small palms for shelter. For a year, nothing in particular happened. All of the birds remained dull and quiet, and although we pointed them out frequently on personally-conducted tours, it was difficult to convince visitors that Umbrella Birds are something of special interest. Then we noticed that the young male was fading and in spite of all we could do, he became rapidly weaker until his death. A post mortem by Doctor Goss showed a necrotic mass of undeterminable nature in the thorax. This was better, at least, than malnutrition, and we were stimulated to greater efforts with the remaining pair.