28 VOYAGES OF A NATURALIST 



and in every instance their gizzards contained the 

 remains of insects. 



During our second visit to Brazil we camped 

 out for four nights on Itaparica. Our tent was 

 pitched near one of the patches of virgin forest, 

 and at no great distance from a small lake, on 

 the margins of which were numbers of jacanas,* 

 a bird resembling a water-hen in shape, but 

 provided with toes of such great length, that it 

 can walk with ease over the floating leaves of the 

 water-plants. 



In the lagoon caimans or alligators were plentiful, 

 and during the day several were always to be found 

 either basking on the trunks of trees, which had 

 fallen near the water, or lying in the water itself, 

 with only their eyes and nostrils above the 

 surface. 



The near proximity of water to our camp was 

 convenient, but at nightfall we realized that we 

 had made a great mistake, for the mosquitoes 

 swarmed in such numbers that sleep was im- 

 possible. A fire had been lighted previously, 

 and arranged in such a way that the smoke blew 

 through the tent, but the mosquitoes swarmed in 

 notwithstanding, and after spending two nights of 

 discomfort, we obtained mosquito nets and moved 

 the tent to a greater distance from the water. 

 After this we most of us were able to get a couple 

 of nights' immunity from these pests. Two of 



* Parra jacana. 



