324 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



There are also many calls heard in tropical forests which are 

 monotonous repetitions of one note. The many times repeated kook, 

 kook, kook, kook, of the trogons is frequently heard; and at Coli- 

 blanco, and there only, we were at times almost distracted by the 

 tireless repetition of a loud and sharp chip, chip, chip, somewhat like 

 the call of the male English sparrow as he dances at the entrance to a 

 nesting hole, trying to attract a mate, but altogether louder, more 

 continued, and of a peculiarly piercing quality. We could never see 

 the creature producing this call, but were informed by the natives 

 that it was a large humming bird, of which two were common there 

 {Eugenes spectablis and Heliodoxa jacula) ; it may, however, have 

 been a tree frog. 



The foregoing is a mere outline sketch of tropical nature. Volumes 

 could be filled with interesting details by one sufficiently familiar 

 with the subject by longer residence or more prolonged exploration, 

 for the material is inexhaustible. To the student of nature, be he 

 zoologist, or botanist, the Tropics are full of treasures such as I have 

 attempted in vain to adequately describe. To be appreciated in full, 

 however, they must be seen at first hand ; for " like the regal beauties 

 of Rio they reveal themselves only to those who come to look upon 

 them in person." 18 



18 Franck, Working North from Patagonia, p. 189. 



