152 LOWER AMAZONS—OBYDOS TO MANAOS. Cuap. VIL. 
Coaita and a Caiardra monkey (Cebus albifrons). Both these lively 
members of the monkey order seemed rather to court attention, but 
the Mycetes slunk away when any one approached it. When it first 
arrived, it occasionally made a gruff subdued howling noise early in 
the morning. The deep volume of sound in the voice of the howling 
monkeys, as is well known, is produced by a drum-shaped expansion of 
the larynx. It was curious to watch the animal whilst venting its 
hollow cavernous roar, and observe how small was the muscular 
exertion employed. When howlers are seen in the forest, there are 
generally three or four of them mounted on the topmost branches of a 
tree. It does not appear that their harrowing roar is emitted from 
sudden alarm; at least, it was not so in captive individuals. It is 
probable, however, that the noise serves to intimidate their enemies. 
I did not meet with the Mycetes stramineus in any other part of the 
Amazons region; in the neighbourhood of Parad a reddish-coloured 
species prevails (M. Belzebuth) ; in the narrow channels near Breves 
I shot a large, entirely black kind; another yellow-handed species, 
according to the report of the natives, inhabits the island of Macajd, 
which is probably the M. flavimanus of Kuhl; some distance up the 
Tapajos the only howler found is a brownish-black species ; and on the 
Upper Amazons the sole species seen was the Mycetes ursinus, whose 
fur is of a shining yellowish-red colour. 
In the dry forests of Villa Nova I saw a rattlesnake for the first time. 
I was returning home one day through a narrow alley, when I heard a 
pattering noise close to me. Hard by was a tall palm tree, whose head 
was heavily weighted with parasitic plants, and I thought the noise was 
a warning that it was about to fall. The wind lulled fora few moments, 
and then there was no doubt that the noise proceeded from the ground. 
On turning my head in that direction, a sudden plunge startled me, and 
a heavy gliding motion betrayed a large serpent making off almost from 
beneath my feet. The ground is always so encumbered with rotting 
leaves and branches, that one only discovers snakes when they are in 
the act of moving away. The residents of Villa Nova would not 
believe that I had seen a rattlesnake in the neighbourhood ; in fact, it 
is not known to occur in the forests at all, its place being the open 
campos, where, near Santarem, I killed several. On my second visit 
to Villa Nova I saw another. I had then a favourite little dog, named 
Diamante, who used to accompany me in my rambles. One day he 
rushed into the thicket, and made a dead set at a large snake, whose 
head I saw raised above the herbage. The foolish little brute 
approached quite close, and then the serpent reared its tail slightly in a 
horizontal position and shook its terrible rattle. It was many minutes 
before I could get the dog away; and this incident, as well as the one 
already related, shows how slow the reptile is to make the fatal spring. 
I was much annoyed, and at the same time amused, with the Urubu 
vultures. The Portuguese call them corvos or crows; in colour and 
general appearance they somewhat resemble rooks, but they are much 
larger, and have naked, black, wrinkled skin about their face and 
throat. They assemble in great numbers in the villages about the end 
of the wet season, and are then ravenous with hunger. My cook could 
