SOLITAIRE- 199 



lone and sombre silence of that lofty elevation, 

 imparted to them a romantic character, which made 

 me very desirous to discover their author. As 

 the summer came on, however, I ceased to hear 

 them : but in the beginning of October, as I was 

 wandering again in the same locality, I was again 

 startled by the interesting sounds. As I pro- 

 ceeded on the very lonely road, through the humid 

 woods, where the trees were loaded with orchideas 

 and wild-pines, and the dank stones hidden by 

 ferns and mosses, the notes became more frequent 

 and evidently nearer. It being useless for a white 

 man, with shoes, to attempt to follow retiring birds 

 among the matted woods, tangled and choked with 

 climbers, and strewn with loose stones, I sent 

 in Sam with a gun, with orders to follow the 

 sound. He crept silently to a spot whence he 

 heard it proceed, and saw two birds of this species, 

 which neither he nor I had seen before, chasing 

 each other among the boughs. He shot one of 

 them. As he was coming out into the road, he 

 imitated the sound by whistling, and was imme- 

 diately answered by another bird, which presently 

 came flying to the place where he was, and alighted 

 on a tree at a little distance. He fired at this 

 also, and it fell ; but emitted the remarkable note 

 at the moment of falling. 



But it is at early day, — when the dew lies so 

 heavil}' on the broad-leafed cocoes of the provi- 

 sion grounds, that from every leaf you might col- 

 lect a gill of sparkling water ; while the mosses 

 and ground-ferns are moist as a saturated sponge ; 



