472 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



AMPHIBIANS 



Of these I cannot write. That frogs and tree-frogs of 

 many sizes and voices exist all over the coimtry, one knows. 

 I did not meet with a Surinam Toad. 



BIRDS 



I do not pretend to give a complete list of all the birds 

 we saw. For over a year, no records were kept, and records 

 of a scientific natui-e were not begun until just prior to our 

 departure. There was no time for comparisons: so I am 

 unable to list separately those birds which are not to be found 

 on the coast lands. Those who know the birds of the coast 

 may be interested to note familiar friends which are to be 

 encountered in the hinterland. 



It may be well to begin by calling attention to Tawrong 

 thamu pethaku kupu (The Birds' Landing Pond), where 

 the woman was attacked by the alligator, because it is here 

 that a remarkable number of birds of different varieties as- 

 semble to breed. Cranes, egrets, the common duckla and 

 the collared duckla, ibises and storks and negro-cops, and a 

 host of smaller water birds are amongst those that breed 

 here. The ducks do not breed at this pond. 



Mare-kupu is a large pond, of which the margins are 

 overgrown with long grass and weeds, making wading diffi- 

 cult and dangerous (lurking foes), and approach by boat 

 troublesome. This pond, the Parishar and the Warabai are 

 visited by three varieties of ducks: The common vicissi (so 

 called from its cry — vicissi, vicissi, vicissi), Dendrocygna 

 discolor; the larger bird, the Bahama duck, Poecilonetta ba- 

 hamensis; and the magnificent bird, of which the drake is 

 gloriously colored, Cairina moschata. Some people call this 

 the INIuscovy or king duck. There is a fourth duck, occa- 

 sionally brought in by the Indians, the white-faced vicissi, 

 Dendrocygna viduata. We have shot both varieties of vi- 

 cissi, amongst one sweep, or regiment. So closely packed 



