ECUADOR 219 
who plaster their bodies all over, and even their hair, with a bright 
red paste made from the seeds of the achiote tree. They are very 
shy and only a few speak broken Spanish, so conversing with 
them is difficult. They were once a fine race physically and 
morally, but these attributes as well as their very existence are 
jeopardized through contact with the Ecuadorian degenerates now 
living in their midst. 
Unfortunately it rained hard every day that we were at Santo 
Domingo and the surrounding country was reduced to a bog, 
otherwise I might have received some assistance from the local 
Indians. I was particularly keen on getting a live specimen of the 
Umbrella Bird, known locally as the pajaro toro (bull bird) on 
account of its bellowing call-notes. This bird is one of the curi- 
osities of the animal kingdom with its bushy crest and feathered 
wattle, over a foot long, hanging down from the neck. An Indian 
hunter told me that this appendage is inflated when the bird is 
calling. 
In the plantations and second growth tanagers were plentiful, 
especially the Yellow-backed Tanager and the migrant Scarlet 
Tanager. The males of the former were the most conspicuous 
birds of the region, and in flight looked very handsome with their 
yellow backs contrasting with the velvety black of the rest of the 
plumage. 
In spite of the rain and mud I managed to trap a number of 
interesting specimens by setting nets in the trees, though this was 
rendered somewhat hazardous by the wet and slippery nature of 
the branches. Two of the nicest birds that I got at Santo Domingo 
were a pair of Coroneted Manakins, which looked like very 
diminutive cocks-of-the-rock. The most handsome tanagers were 
a pair known as the Greenish Blue. 
I saw on rare occasions a rather pretty bird, which had an 
orange bill and black-and-white striped head. It is closely related 
to the saltators, but does not appear to have a satisfactory English 
name. I believe that it was referred to formerly as the Orange- 
billed Tanager, but it is now classed as a Pectoral Sparrow. I man- 
aged to secure only one, which was quite a handsome bird and 
not a bit sparrow-like in its habits. A very distinct tanager, and 
one of the most beautiful—the Western Swallow Fruit-eater—was 
