BIRD LIFE OF BARTICA 109 



tivorous. It is unquestionable that a more thorough study of 

 the birds would add others to the carnivorous list. One of the 

 most interesting things about tropical birds was their catholic 

 diet, the failure of flycatchers to be satisfied with flies or 

 grassbirds with the seeds of grasses. It was quite hopeless 

 to attempt to identify more than one or two of the many 

 nuts and seeds which I found in crops, although some were 

 of remarkable shape and structure. The names of many of 

 the largest forest trees themselves are not known to botanists, 

 and their flowers and fruit were wholly unidentifiable. 

 "Fleshy green fruit with small yellow currant-like seeds" 

 must suffice, until some method is found for the botanist to 

 overcome gravitation and do his collecting in the tree-tops. 

 On the jungle floor we found only a maze of fallen blossoms, 

 berries, seeds and nuts which might have been the product 

 of tree, liana, air-plant, or some nearby shrub rooted in a 

 lofty earthen-filled hollow. 



No trace of a butterfly or moth was found in any of 

 the four hundred stomachs examined. Once I saw a martin 

 attack and disable a freshly emerged green and black day- 

 flying moth {Urania boisduvaU), but I am in doubt whether 

 this was done for food, or from nervousness, as the bird was 

 driving all martins and other flying creatures away from a 

 nestling which had just climbed out upon a perch.* Irides- 

 cent beetles were not uncommon items of diet, and green and 

 brown mantids were present in a half dozen instances. Adult 

 elaters formed the principal food of innumerable nighthawks, 

 and stagbeetles of the poor-me-one. The yellow-throated 

 caracara instead of being a scavenger as he is reputed, sated 

 himself with seeds and insects. Two great eagles, one the 

 harpy, had been feasting on monkeys, and a trio of swallow- 

 tailed kites which were slain because of their suspected orni- 

 thophagous habits, proved a complete alibi and insured sanc- 

 tuary for their successors by their last meal, which consisted 

 of small wild fruits and large grasshoppers. 



