76 THE PAPUAN PODARGUS. 



In counexion with our observations on the genus Podargtcs^ we 

 eannot omit a short notice of a most extraordinary bird, in many 

 respects closely related to this genus, but which truly forms the type 

 of a distinct generic group, under the title of Steatornis. We allude to 

 the Guacharo [Steatornis caripensts, Humb.,) of which a memoir is 

 published in the 'Nouvelles Annales du Musdum,' vol. III., part 4, by 

 M. I'Herminier. The Guacharo is a native of the range of deep and 

 gloomy caverns of Caripe, in the province of Cumana, where it was 

 first discovered by MM. Humboldt and Bonpland in the year 1799 

 These caverns are formed in the sides of tremendous calcareous rocks, 

 divided by a stupendous chasm, over which are thrown the famous 

 bridges of Icononzo. " Numberless flights of nocturnal birds," says 

 Humboldt "haunt the crevice, and which we were led at first to 

 mistake for Bats of a gigantic size. Thousands of them are seen 

 flying over the surface of the water. The Indians assured us that they 

 are of the size of a fowl with a curved beak and an Owl's eye. They 

 ■are called Gacas, and the uniform color of their plumage, which is bluish 

 grey, leads me to think that they belong to the genus of Ca-primulgus, 

 the species of which are so various in the Cordilleras. It is impossible 

 to catch them on account of the depth of the valley, and they can only 

 be examined by throwing down rockets to illuminate the sides of the 

 fock." 



M. Depens, in his ' History of South America,' alludes to the same 

 bird, of which he says, millions inhabit the cavern Called Guacharo, 

 which is immense, and that their fat yields the "oil of Guacharo" 



"Daylight penetrates far into the grotto, but when the light begins 

 to fail, the hoarse voices of the inhabitants become audible, and it would 

 be difficult to ibrm an idea of the horrible noise occasioned by thousands 

 of these birds in the dark parts of the cavern. Their shrill and pierc- 

 ing cries strike upon the vaults in the rocks, and are repeated by the 

 .subterranean echoes. The Indians showed us the nests of the Guacheros 

 by fixing a torch to a long pole; these nests were fifty or sixty feet above 

 our heads, in holes of the shape of funnels, with which the roof of the grotto 

 is pierced like a sieve. The noise increased as we advanced, the birds 

 becoming scared by the torches we carried; but when the din somewhat 

 al>ated, immediately around us we heard at a distance the plaintive cries 

 of others at roost in the ramifications of the cavern. It seemed as if 

 diti'eront groups answered each other alternately. The Indians enter 

 the C'ueva del Guachero once a year, near midsummer. They go armed 

 with poles, with which they destroy the greater part of the nests. At 

 that season several thousand birds are killed, and the old ones, as if to 

 ilefend their brood, hover over the heads of the Indians, uttering terri- 

 ble cries. The young, which fall to the ground, are opened on the spot. 

 Their peritoneum is found extremely loaded with fat, and a layer of 

 fat reaches from the abdomen to the vent, forming a kind of fatty 

 cushion between the legs. At the period commonly called at Caripe 

 the 'oil harvest,' the Indians build huts with palm leaves near the 

 entrance and even in the porch of the cavern, where, with a fire of 

 brushwood, they melt in pots of clay the fat of the young birds just 

 killed. This fat is known by the name of butter or oil (mantece or 



