Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/121

 UMBRELLA walking out, attended by his servant carrying an umbrella with a handle that slopes back- ward, so as to bring the umbrella over the head of the person in front. Until a com- paratively recent time umbrellas were used in Italy and France only as a protection from the sun. Kersey's " English Dictionary " (1708) defines an umbrella as a " screen commonly used by women to keep off rain." Jonas Hanway is said to have been the first man who com- monly carried an umbrella in the streets of London, about 1750; at that time their use was considered a mark of great effeminacy. They were at first kept in the halls of great houses, and at coffee houses, to be used in pass- ing from the door to the carriage. In 1787 an English advertisement speaks of "a great assortment of much approved pocket and porta- ble umbrellas." For a considerable time after the introduction of umbrellas into the United States, in the latter half of the 18th century, it was considered effeminate to carry one. Their manufacture was begun about 1800, and has risen to be an important branch of industry, the products equalling the best English and French. It is confined almost entirely to the cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. By the census of 1870, the number of hands employed directly in the making of umbrellas and canes was 2,618, and the value of the pro- duction $4,098,032; and since that time the business has maintained a steady growth. The silk for covering umbrellas is a special branch of weaving, principally carried on about Ly- ons, France ; but the neighborhood of Crefeld on the Rhine also produces a large quantity, and in Switzerland and England a limited quan- tity is made. Some silks and alpacas for um- brellas have been made in the United States, but not with much success. The manufacture of the metal parts and of the handles is gener- ally a separate branch. The census of 1870 gives 578 hands employed upon metallic um- brella furniture, producing a value of $724,034. UMBRELLA (Lam.), a genus of gasteropod mollusks, so called from the resemblance of UMBRELLA BIRD 109 Umbrella umbellate. the flattened shell to an umbrella. The animal has a very large tuberculated foot, deeply notched in front; the shell is small and lim- pet-like, merely covering the most important organs. The U. umbellata (Lam.), the Chinese umbrella shell, is a native of the Indian ocean. UMBRELLA BIRD, the popular name of a sin- gular South American bird, placed by the latest authors among the chatterers (ampelidai), sub- family gymnoderince or fruit birds, and genus cephalopterus (Geoffr.). The bill is stout, long, Umbrella Bird (Cephalopterus ornatus). flattened, gradually curved, with the tip notched and slightly hooked; wings moderate, rather pointed, with the third quill longest ; tail short and rounded ; toes long and slender, with curved claws. The C. ornatus (Geoffr.) is about as large as a crow, glossy black, with violet, blue, and metallic reflections on the crest and pectoral appendage. The head of the male is surmounted by a large crest of 50 to 80 feathers springing from over the nostrils, the lower half a white stiff shaft, and terminating each in a tuft of black hair-like feathers spreading in all directions, but principally forward ; it arises from a contractile skin on the top of the head, and when erected almost hides the bill from view ; it is 5 in. in length and about 4 in. wide, somewhat resembling a beautiful blue umbrella. The skin of the neck is very loose, and from it grows a cylindrical fleshy process, about as thick as a goose quill, 1 in. long, from which extends a tuft of imbricated feathers, bordered with metallic blue, and hanging down several inches. It is found in the islands of the great South American rivers, feeding principally on fruits ; it is arboreal, and utters a very loud and deep note, which has gained for it from the tribes of the Rio Negro the name of piper bird. The araponga or bell bird (proenias alba, Thunb.) is about 12 in. long and pure white ; it has a singular cylin- drical fleshy appendage, with a few small feath- ers, rising from the base of the bill ; the mouth is very wide ; the voice resembles the tolling of a bell, and may be heard, according to Wa-