The range of exhibits covered by the 

 tour not only shows the various cover- 

 ings that animals have developed to pro- 

 tect them from the extremes of tempera- 

 ture, but also shows how many mammals 

 and birds have solved the problem of 

 harmonizing with their background to 

 escape their enemies and to creep un- 

 noticed upon their prey. In the far 

 north, for example, polar bears and 

 snowy owls are mostly white the year 

 around, while in the tropics are found 

 the birds and mammals with the bright- 

 est and most variegated coats to blend 

 with tropical backgrounds. Still other 

 animals have a dark summer coat that 

 turns to white when the snow comes. 

 In other types of seasonal change, male 

 birds may wear a bright plumage during 

 the mating season, and a dull coat at 

 other times of the year. All these effects 

 of climate and seasons on the fur and 

 feathers of mammals and birds are illus- 

 trated in December's combined Featured 

 Exhibit and Museum Journey. 



PAULA R. NELSON 



SURINAM DIARY 



{Continued from page 5) 



October 8: Six big tree frogs live in the 

 trees near camp and their deep, guttural 

 "croak, croak" dominates the night 

 sounds. Found a pair of tinamous. . . . 

 Seeds planted in the vegetable garden 

 are sprouting. 



October 10: Large bats bit holes in the 

 bat net, and escaped. Collected a little 

 orange and blue tanager, and another 

 one all black with a white cap. Glitter- 

 ing blue morpho butterflies wing their 

 way through the forest . . . and tarantula 

 wasps, four inches long, steel blue with 

 red wings. 



October 16: Bush ticks were bothersome 

 today . . . red welts and intermittent 

 itching for several days follow each bite. 

 We have cut six miles of trail toward the 

 mountains. 



October 29: Got two snakes this morn- 

 ing, one a lively blue. 



November 2: Saw for the first time a 

 troop of 25 squirrel monkeys and kesi 

 monkeys feeding together, and a peccary 

 eating the fruit they dropped. Pairs of 

 large macaws cruise over the forest, giv- 

 ing raucous calls. An unforgettable sight 



Page 8 December 



was a dozen of these gorgeous birds feed- 

 ing, cracking tough seed pods. . . the red 

 and blue birds outnumber the yellow, 

 ten to one. 



November 15: Traveling down-river by 

 canoe, we watched five giant otters play- 

 ing tag. Curious, they came to meet us, 

 and, only 15 feet away, treaded water 

 and peered at us. 



November 18: An ocelot came around 

 camp last night . . . we saw his eyes gleam 

 in the beam of our flashlight, and heard 

 him call. From across the river came 

 the noises of an ant bear ripping apart a 

 termite nest. 



November 26: We got a pair of small 

 marmosets with brown hands . . . behave 

 much like squirrels . . . give soft, plain- 

 tive whistles. Also bagged a harpy eagle 

 that was dining on a monkey. 



November 29: Traveling along the river, 

 we saw kingfishers and river swallows . . . 

 enormous trees and graceful palms . . . 

 epiphytes . . . colorful blossoms. Tou- 

 cans and red and blue macaws flew 

 across the river, and "Pawis" bush tur- 

 keys walked along its bank. Humming- 

 birds came in to flowers. . . . 



December 5: Rain yesterday and today 

 in the mornings, but afternoons are 

 sunny. It is the start of the little rains; 

 the anumaras fish are moving upstream, 

 ready to go up the small tributaries to 

 spawn as soon as the rains raise the water 

 level. When the big rains come in June 

 and July, the whole forest will be flooded. 

 Perhaps this is why there are so few small 

 mammals here. A big agouti sat up like 

 a squirrel, nibbling a fruit held in its 

 forepaws. Suddenly taking fright, he 

 dashed away, barking furiously. 



December 10: Jacamars are at their nest 

 holes — tunnels excavated in sandy loam. 

 One tunnel ran diagonally for two and 

 one-half feet, and in the nest cavity were 

 two featherless nestlings resting on the 

 sand, for these birds provide no lining 

 for their nest. 



Violent thunder and lightning now ac- 

 company the beginning of the little rainy 

 season. Rains in the distant mountains 

 have swollen the streams, which have 

 risen three feet. 



A black possum came to the bait sta- 

 tion near camp last night. A large hawk 

 darted into a tree where a troop of squir- 

 rel monkeys was feeding, but all escaped. 



December 15: We followed the river. 



. . . Ten bushy-tailed monkeys, known 

 as Beeson, sat swinging their tails pendu- 

 lum-wise . . . several yellow-headed and 

 one black and white king vultures flew 

 up from a monkey carcass. We passed 

 a tapir feeding on fruit dropped by Cebus 

 monkeys. 



December 18: Greenheart trees are leaf- 

 less, but covered with a mass of yellow 

 flowers which, when they fall, carpet the 

 ground with gold. 



December 20: Rain every morning now 

 . . . many frogs call in the night. The 

 river is up over the log bridge we built. 

 Nights are quite cool, the temperature 

 going down to 65° F. Big toucans are 

 getting ready to nest, sitting on tips of 

 tallest trees and singing a high-pitched 

 yelp like that of a puppy, hour after 

 hour. Saw a tinamou's nest with eggs 

 . . . and a pair of parakeets excavating a 

 nest burrow in a tree termite nest. 



A beautiful day, the sky banked with 

 cumulus against its deep blue. 



December 25: Christmas tree is up . . . 

 planted in front of the hut. Napoleon 

 and Sagiman found a child's delight in 

 decorating it with strings of pink 

 flowers, strips of yellow palm-leaflets, 

 and colorful bird and mammal skins. 



December 29: Trees are blooming in 

 profusion. Many black-headed and 

 blue-headed parrots visit the blossoms. 

 A tiny eared owl sits at the mouth of its 

 tree-hole home. Some trees are in fruit, 

 and toucans of several kinds, large tana- 

 gers, thrushes, antbirds, oropendolas, 

 and a hawk-headed parrot come to them 

 to feed. A fork-tailed hummingbird sad- 

 dled her nest of down on a high slim 

 branch . . . she goes to flowers for nectar, 

 but seems to prefer gleaning spiders from 

 their webs. 



December 30: ... at dusk, a thrush is 

 singing a clear, warbling whistle. . . . 



January 1, 1961: More trees are com- 

 ing into bloom; some have blue blos- 

 soms, others mauve, vermillion, yellow, 

 pink . . . the night air is heavy with their 

 perfume. Trees that have stood leafless 

 in the dry season have buds bursting and 

 leaves growing. More birds are nesting. 



January 2: Returned from the moun- 

 tain trail with two birds new to the col- 

 lection. 



January 12: The first plane since early 

 December came in to the airstrip, bring- 

 ing a package and letters. 



PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS 



