STRANGE BIRDS 145 



brilliant light that not only helped me to find 

 my way up and down hills, over rocks and roots, 

 and along trails, but also picked up unexpected 

 sights around me. It was when I wore this that 

 the ground was jeweled with reflections of the 

 light from many spiders' eyes. 



The poor-me-one flew noiselessly into the clear- 

 ing and set himself down very low and fiat on 

 the ground. In the fast-falling tropical twilight 

 I seldom saw him until one of his eyes caught 

 and reflected the light from my lamp. The 

 spiders' eyes were like diamonds, but the eye of 

 the poor-me-one shone red like the most brilliant 

 ruby. As I moved toward him, he would fly 

 a few feet and come to earth again. Once he 

 flew directly toward me with both large eyes 

 aflame. 



Orioles are found on the Isthmus, but they 

 have a much more common relative, called the 

 hangbird, which seems to prefer to build his nest 

 in company with other hangbirds. On Barro 

 Colorado I found a cluster of nests in the lower 

 branches of a high tree (Fig. 62). These were 

 neatly woven of grass, and they hung two or 

 three feet below the branches to which they were 

 fastened. In this tree there were half a dozen 

 nests, but I have heard of trees from which hung 

 fifty nests. The hangbird 's body is black and 

 brown and his tail a bright yellow, so that he 

 reminds one of the oriole. 



10 



