100 PASSERES. TROCHILID^. 



solitude, combined with the peculiarity and luxu- 

 riance of the vegetation, made it one of my favo- 

 rite resorts. Not a tree, from the thickness of 

 one's wrist up to the giant magnitude of the 

 hoary figs and cotton trees, but is clothed with 

 fantastic parasites : begonias with waxen flowers, 

 and ferns with hirsute stems climb up the trunks ; 

 enormous bromelias spring from the greater forks, 

 and fringe the horizontal limbs ; various orchideae 

 with matted roots and grotesque blossoms droop 

 from every bough, and long lianes, like the cord- 

 age of a ship, depend from the loftiest branches, 

 or stretch from tree to tree. Elegant tree-ferns, 

 and towering palms are numerous; here and there 

 the wild plantain or heliconia waves its long flag- 

 like leaves from amidst the humbler bushes, and 

 in the most obscure corners over some decaying 

 log, nods the noble spike of a magnificent limo- 

 dorum. Nothing is flaunting or showy; all is so- 

 lemn and subdued; but all is exquisitely beauti- 

 ful. Now and then the ear is startled by the 

 long-drawn measured notes, most richly sweet, of 

 the Solitaire, itself mysteriously unseen, like the 

 hymn of praise of an angel. It is so in keeping 

 with the solitude, and with the scene, that we 

 are unconsciously arrested to admire and listen. 

 The smaller wood consists largely of the plant called 

 Glass-eye berry, a Scrophularious shrub, the blossoms 

 of which, though presenting little beauty in form 

 or hue, are pre-eminently attractive to the Long- 

 tailed Humming-bird. These bushes are at no 

 part of the year out of blossom, the scarlet ber- 



