PLUMED BIRDS. 



67 



from their stately dimensions are well calculated to strike the 

 spectator with astonishment, some of them rising to the stupen- 

 dous height of a hundred and fifty feet, an elevation to which the 

 circumference of their trunks is quite proportionate. Shrubs and 

 bushes have no existence among this exuberant vegetation ; the 



the lianas, resembling enormous vines. 



Fig. 33. -The T\vel\e-threaded Epimaciius {Epimachus nlbns). 



climb to the summits of the largest trees, twining around them 

 like serpents, and interlacing their stems among the branches. 

 The brilliant tints that adorn these virgin forests constitute by 

 no means their least striking feature. All hues of green are in- 

 termixed with flowers of ample dimensions, diversified with every 

 shade of colour, and fruits no less remarkable for the singularity 

 of their shape. Amid this wilderness, the lofty palm trees are 

 lost beneath the festoons of parasitic plants that wreathe around 

 them, and enormous mimosas bend beneath the weight of orchids 

 and gorgeous epidendrons. It is in the midst of these solitudes, 



