THE NATURALIST ON YiLE RIVER AMAZONS. 



the more struck by it as nothing similar is 

 witnessed in the virgin forests among which 

 I had passed the four years previous to my 

 stay in this part. The grass on the campos 

 is renewed, and many of the campo trees, 

 especially the myrtles, which grow abun- 

 dantly in one portion of the district, begin to 

 flower, attracting by the fragrance of their 

 blossoms a great number and variety of in- 

 sects, more particularly Coleoptera. Many 

 kinds of birds, parrots, toucans, and barbels, 

 which live habitually in the forest, then visit 

 the open places. A few weeks of compara- 

 tively dry weather generally intervene in 

 March, after a month or two of rain. The 

 heaviest rains fall in April, May, and June ; 

 they come in a succession of showers, with 

 sunny gleamy weather in the intervals. June 

 and July are the months when the leafy lux- 

 uriance of the campos, and the activity of 

 life, are at their highest. Most birds have 

 then completed their moulting, which ex 

 tends over the period from February to May. 

 The flowering shrubs are then mostly m 

 bloom, and numberless kinds of Dipterous 

 and Hymenopterous insects appear simulta- 

 neously with the flowers. This season 

 might be considered the equivalent of sum- 

 mer in temperate climates, as the bursting 

 forth of the foliage in February represents 

 the spring ; but under the equator there is not 

 that simultaneous march in the annual life of 

 an'mals and plants which we see in high lati- 

 tudes ; some species, it is true, are dependent 

 upon others in their periodical acts of life, and 

 go hand-in-hand with them, but they are not 

 all simultaneously and similarly affected by 

 ^he physical changes of the seasons. 



I will now give an account of some of my 

 favorite collecting places in the neighborhood 

 of Santarem, incorporating with the descrip- 

 tion a few of the more interesting observa- 

 tions made on the natural history "of the lo- 

 calities. To the west of the town there was 

 d pleasant path along the beach to a little 

 bay, callled Mapiri, about five miles within 

 the mouth of the Tapajos. The road was 

 practicable only in the dry season. The river 

 at Santarem rises on the average about thirty 

 feet, varying in different years about ten 

 feet ; so that in the four months, from April 

 to July, the water conies up to the edge of 

 the marginal^ belt of wood already spoken of. 

 This Mapiri excursion was most pleasant 

 and profitable in the months from January 

 to March, before the rains became too 

 continuous. The sandy beach beyond 

 the town is very irregular ; in some places 

 forming long spits on which, when the 

 east wind is blowing, the waves break 

 in a line of foam ; at others receding to 

 shape out quiet little bays and pools. On 

 the outskirts of the town a few scattered huls 

 of Indians and colored people are passed, 

 prettily situated on the margin of the while 

 beach, with a background of glorious foliage ; 

 the cabin of the pure-blood Indian being dis- 

 tinguished from the mud hovels of the rn- 

 negroes and mulattoes by its light cou^u^ys^ 



tion, half of it being an open shed,, where tne 

 dusky tenants are seen at all hours of tnev 

 day lounging in their open-meshed grass;; 

 hammocks. About two miles on the road 

 we come to a series of shallow pools, called 

 the Laguinhos, which are connected with th ' 

 river in the wet season, but separated from 

 it at other times by a high bank of sand 

 topped with bushes. There is a break here 

 in the fringe of wood, and a glimpse is ob- 

 tained of the grassy campo. When tlrj . 

 waters have risen to the level of the pools, 

 this place is frequented by many kinds of 

 wading birds. Snow-white egrets of two 

 species stand about themargius.of the wai -r, 

 and dusky-striped herons may be seen halt* 

 hidden under the shade of the bushes. The 

 pools are covered with a small kind of water- 

 lily, and surrounded by a dense thicket. 

 Among the birds which inhabit this spot is . 

 the rosy-breasted Troupial (Trupialis Guian- 

 ensis), a bird resembling our starling in size 

 and habits, and not unlike it in color, with 

 the exception of the rich rosy vest. The. 

 water at this time of the year overflows a 

 larare level tract of campo bordering the 

 pools, and the Troupials come to feed on the 

 larvae of insects which then abound in the 

 moist soil. 



Beyond the Laguinhos there succeeds a 

 tract of level beach, covered with trees 

 which form a beautiful grove. About tha 

 month of April, when the water rises to this 

 level, the trees are covered with blossom 

 and a handsome orchid, an Epidendron, with 

 large white flowers, which clothes thickly 

 the trunks is profusely in bloom. Several 

 kinds of kingfisher resort to the place : four 

 species may be seen within a small space : 

 the largest as big as a crow, of a mottled-gray 

 hue. and with an enormous beak ; the smallest 

 not larger than a sparrovr. The large one 

 makes its nest in clay cliffs, three or four 

 milts distant from this place. None of the 

 kingfishers are so brilliant in color as our 

 English species. The blossoms on the trees 

 attract two or three species of humming-birds, 

 the most conspicuous of which is a large 

 swallow-tailed kind (Eupetomena macroura), . 

 with a brilliant livery of emerald green an 1 

 steel blue. I noticed that it did not remain 

 so long pcised in the air before the flowers 

 as the other smaller species ; it perched more 

 frequently, a-ud sometimes darted after small 

 insects on the wing. Emerging from the 

 grove there is a long stretch of sandy lK j ach ; 

 the land is high and rocky, and the belt, of 

 wood which skirts the river banks is nmcD 

 broader than it is elsewhere. At length, 

 after rounding a projecting bluff, the bay ot 

 Mapiri is reached. The river view is charac- 

 teristic of the Tapajos : the shores are 

 wooded, and on the opposite side is a line of 

 clay cliffs, with hills in the background 

 clothed with a rolling forest. A long spit of 

 sand extends into mid-river, beyond which. 

 is an immense expanse of dark water, the 

 further shore of the Tapajos being barely 

 visible as a thin gray line of trees on the 

 The transparency of air and water 



