74 RUFFED AND TUFTED HUMMING-BIRDS. 



Here are a whole bevy of beautiful 

 birds. Crowds of Parrots sidle about on 

 the branches, or dress their gaudy plumage ; 

 and here are the caressing Love-Birds, and 

 the flaming Macaws ; and close by sits the 

 solemn Trogon in his resplendent plumes ; 

 and little gleams of blue and scarlet 

 among the branches show the presence of 

 innumerable Cotingas, as brisk and gay as 

 possible. 



Beneath, on the moist earth, are 

 numbers of living creatures. Here are 

 lizards, and snakes, and insects of every 

 kind. Here is the armadillo, that rustles 

 among the decaying leaves ; and the 

 curious ant-eater, with its long tongue 

 and its cloo^-like feet ; and a deer will now 

 and then bound through some leafy 

 opening, pursued by the jaguar ; and the 

 tapir, with its swine -like snout, will come 

 crashing by. 



