8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



flowers are his specialty and these he 

 mounts upon Mother of Pearl. The 

 illustrations to my article give no idea 

 of their beauty as it is impossible to 

 describe the coloring. Suffice to say 

 that the feathers are taken from the 

 most beautiful of tropical birds. 



One day he invited me to visit his 



which contrasts greatly with the 

 bright vermillion banner with its let- 

 tering of deep purple. The inner parts 

 ot the wings are of lovely green feath- 

 ers, taken from the jacama, while the 

 outer parts are of soft, shaded dove 

 feathers. The delicate barring on the 

 eagle's tail is made from the feathers 



ALL MADE OF FEATHERS. 



work shop and I went, expecting to 

 see all kinds of instruments and ap- 

 pliances, but his outfit is of the sim- 

 plest nature. A reading glass or two, 

 a pair of forceps, a bottle of glue, 

 scissors, paint and a few carpenter's 

 tools is all that he uses. Here also he 

 has countless bird skins of every 

 known color from which each feather 

 is selected, cut to the desired shape 

 and then glued in its position in one 

 of Arroyo's scenes or designs each of 

 which is exquisite and perfect to the 

 last detail. 



This work is a terrific strain upon 

 the eyes owing to the minuteness of 

 many of the objects. Arroyo told me 

 himself that his eyes were beginning 

 to bother him greatly and owing to 

 the fact that he knows no other trade, 

 it has become necessary for his little 

 son, who is only seven years old, to 

 start learning the work of his father. 



The United States coat of arms 

 shown in the illustration is an inter- 

 esting example of the patience of its 

 creator. It is entirely of feathers of 

 gorgeous tropical birds and is mounted 

 upon a sheet of plate glass, eighteen 

 by twenty-four inches square. The 

 stars at the top of the plate are of 

 greenish blue with a touch of shining 

 coppery iridescence in their centers, 



of a South American family of birds 

 known as Trogons. As these birds 

 are difficult to find at all times, it gives 

 an idea of the time which must be 

 spent in completing a single mount. 

 The legs, arrows and branches are of 

 shining green with bands of purple and 

 the berries are in vermillion. The 

 shield is perfectly colored, and each 

 star is made from five separate points 

 with a little touch of gold in the cen- 

 ter which was made by powdering the 

 feathers from a humming bird. Taken 

 altogether, it is a very striking and 

 brilliant piece of work. 



It took Arroyo twenty-two days to 

 finish it and although his regular price 

 for a coat of arms is thirty dollars, he 

 let me have it in exchange for a 

 sixteen dollar gun ! 



I found one or two other feather 

 workers in Bogota, but their work 

 could not compare with that of the lit- 

 tle man with the beard. They were 

 crude in detail and the color combi- 

 nations were equally bad. 



Arroyo goes into the field and hunts 

 for his own birds and in this way he 

 is enabled to secure specimens whose 

 feathers are of the proper colors for 

 his work. This I presume is why he 

 wanted my gun. 



I bought many things from him, all 



