228 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
larger than an orange. I was told that the procedure in shrinking 
a head is to make an incision up the back and then carefully re- 
move the skull. The lips are fastened, and the eye-sockets and 
skull incision sewn up, then the skin is plunged into boiling water 
to which an astringent has been added. After some hours con- 
siderable shrinkage takes place, but of course the skin is shapeless. 
When removed from the water, hot round stones are put in the 
skin and these are kept moving by rotation. Thus slow drying and 
further evaporation sets in, and the head-hunter himself has to 
mold the face into shape while it is hardening but is still pliable. 
When the process is complete the skin is tough like leather, but 
how closely the head resembles its owner in life has never been 
ascertained. However, the result is remarkable, for the life-like 
miniature has tightly closed eyes with long upcurling lashes, and 
hair as long and as soft as in life. 
One of the heads I saw was of an old lady of about sixty years, 
with gray hair; there were also three men of various ages, and a 
boy of probably ten years with fresh complexion and lovely fea- 
tures. 
The Ecuadorian government had recently brought in a law im- 
posing heavy fines and imprisonment on vendors of these heads. 
This was to put a stop to the growing traffic in these curios with 
tourists and collectors. 
Scarlet-bellied Tanagers were common here, and I was able to 
capture all I wanted by setting nets in the trees where they fed. I 
occasionally saw a few Orange-bellied Tanagers—a species very 
similar in size and appearance to the foregoing, but with the scar- 
let parts orange. Another most striking tanager that I saw near 
Papallacta was Vassor’s Tanager; I saw a small flock of these one 
day at close quarters, and the brilliance of their shining silky blue 
plumage was almost startling. 
The return journey to Quito was by no means a picnic as the 
birds had to be carried by porters. Crossing the paramo we were 
subjected to a fierce freezing wind, and so the cages had to be 
wrapped up tightly in sacks. It was a relief to descend to the 
warmer levels again, both for our own comfort and the safety of 
the birds. 
