A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



spiders, known as the Thorny Spiders, have a yellow body, glossy 

 as the rind of an orange, and marked with pores like the orange ; or 

 it maybe bright yellow and covered with spines. Another very common 

 spider is the large, long-legged Nephila, silver, white and green. 



But there are other colours, characteristic of the tropics, which 

 have been adopted by plants and animals. When I was in Ceylon 

 it struck me that a colour which is on the whole rare in Europe is to 

 be seen on every side in the tropics. This colour is orange. While in 

 Europe the sun sets in a rosy glow, over the Red Sea, and still more 

 in Ceylon, the western horizon blazes with a splendid orange, 

 especially during the afterglow, when half an hour after sunset a 

 fresh glow is kindled. In Brazil orange tones are not so predominant 

 as in India, but in the Sertao they appear in all their glory. 



We have already seen that orange tones are frequent in the 

 flowers, and that even the young leaves of some trees are orange in 

 colour. It is no wonder, then, that we find orange tones in the 

 animal world also. The Indian Underwings are like the European 

 species, except that the underwing is orange instead of pink. There 

 are orange-coloured insects in Brazil, and several species of birds 

 have orange feathers in their plumage. But the climax, where this 

 colour is concerned, has been reached by two birds of the Amazon 

 basin. Goeldi, in his work on birds, describes the Red Ibis, as it sits 

 in its hundreds in the bamboo thickets beside the river, or flies 

 around its mustering-place, in a fairy set-piece of living flames ! And 

 in the silent heart of the forest the Cocks-of-the-Rock (Rupicola) 

 execute their dances. The cock bird, the size of a jackdaw, decks 

 himself in blazing orange ; a feather crest of the same colour crowns 

 his head. I should be inclined to award these two birds the prize 

 for beauty of colour. 



We have seen that a further quality of the tropical landscape is 

 its substantiality. It is full of sharp contrasts ; soft shadows and gentle 

 gradations are of rare occurrence. Even among the animals we 

 often find contrasting colours in immediate juxtaposition. The 

 plumage of the Parrots and the Tanagers, and the wings of many 

 butterflies, display such colouring, and as in painting the landscape, 

 so in depicting the birds and animals, one is obliged to work with 

 the finest brushes. Mutually blending tones are rarer than in Europe. 

 For this reason the Parrots — to take an example — would look out 

 of place in a European landscape, whereas in Brazil and Ceylon one 

 feels on seeing them as though Nature, overwhelmed by her creative 

 impulse, had relieved herself by uttering a cry of jubilation. 

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