Mr. E. L. Layard on Birds observed at Para. 375 



of birds in this country. It is singular how barren of life the 

 forests really are, and the paucity of individuals, as compared 

 with species, is likewise remarkable. I have shot almost every 

 thing I have seen, and skinned most of them ; and yet, to the 

 215 specimens sent, there are 115 species. Then, too, the 

 gloom in the forest is so great that rarely can you tell what 

 bird you see and fire at, till it is actually in your hand. The 

 most gaudy species appears simply a dark opaque body against 

 the semi transparent tapestry of green. You fire, dodge round 

 the smoke, which always hangs in the bushes, just in time to 

 see a body heavier than a leaf fall to the thick carpet of Ly- 

 copodium and other low shrubs. You mark the exact leaf it 

 struck in its fall, cut your way into the spot, and in three 

 instances out of five don't find your bird ! ! The least mistake 

 of a leaf where all are so similar, the least struggle of your 

 prize, and you may as well " hunt for a needle in a pottle of 

 hay." Only as late as yesterday I shot a fine Hawk close to 

 my house ; my servant and myself saw it fall, and marked the 

 place accurately ; but we hunted in vain for it for more than an 

 hour, climbing the bushes, shaking them, and questing about 

 like hounds, but all to no purpose. I have saved my chickens 

 from the marauder, but would willingly give him a couple 

 (though they are 4s. 6d. or 5s. a piece) for his maw, if I could 

 bring him to life, and have another chance at him ! 



Under these circumstances how can the habits of our fea- 

 thered friends be studied ? In this neighbourhood there are 

 no open spaces, all is forest-clad. On the 21st inst., how- 

 ever, I paid a visit to a Fagenda some 10 miles up the river 

 Acara, the next stream to the Guama. Just below the house 

 was an open swampy piece of ground; and here for the first time 

 I saw a flock of Plovers, probably Hoplopterus cay anus, and a 

 Snipe (Scolopax frenata ?) . I regret to say that my companion 

 failed in getting the first, and that I missed the second. 



On the voyage I was much struck with the absence of life 

 along the river's banks; with the exception of a solitary 

 small white Heron and a pair of Swallows (Progne chalybea) , 

 ive did not see a single bird. The tide was low, and the mud 

 banks extended some distance : not a wader tenanted them. 



