138 JUNGLE ISLAND 



have as many different names as the Prince of 

 Wales. 



But there were birds ever>^where, and after a 

 while, with many questions, I found out the names 

 of those I saw oftenest. Nearly all of them were 

 strange to me. I was on the Isthmus at the 

 time when summer birds have left the northern 

 United States, but while some of these migrate 

 even farther into South America, I myself saw 

 few that could have come to Panama from the 

 United States. Most Panama birds seemed to 

 be stay-at-homes instead of tourists. 



The largest birds and those we saw oftenest were 

 the great black vultures, with featherless, skinny 

 heads, which floated and swung all day long over 

 the city of Panama. When we were in Ancon 

 we lived high on Ancon Hill, with a wide view 

 over the plain where Morgan the pirate fought to 

 take the city many years before. Now a great 

 stretch of the plain is kept cleared for an aviation 

 field, and from above we could watch the air- 

 planes landing or taking off for a flight. The 

 airplanes roared away below us, almost as far as 

 we could see them, but the vultures were on our 

 own level or above us, floating silently on wide 

 quiet wings. 



When we went down to the water front of the 

 city, we saw them at closer range (Fig. 60). 

 When the tide went out and left acres of mud 

 uncovered in the harbor, the big birds came down 



