154 A NATURALIST IN THE GUI AN AS 



hunting or collecting forest products. Woe to the wretch 

 who gets lost in one of these mazes of interminable 

 creepers — creepers from the size of one's leg to the thin- 

 ness of thread — running along the ground, climbing up 

 over the tops of the tallest trees to return again striking 

 their roots into the damp spongy soil, and with renewed 

 vigour branching away in every direction, a regular 

 spider's web for the poor devil lost in its interminable 

 toils. The bejucales are the favourite haunts of tortoises 

 and armadillos. Peccaries, also, are fond of visiting these 

 cool damp resorts, where the ground is spongy and soft 

 and they can dig as much as they please in search of the 

 roots which constitute so large a part of their diet. Many 

 of the larger game-birds are also in the habit of frequent- 

 ing the bejucales. By scratching in the thick bed of 

 rotten leaves covering the ground they obtain the worms 

 and insects which form part of their food, while the trees 

 with their dense overgrowth of creepers afford them good 

 hiding-places. Some of these creepers are fruit-bearing. 

 Of a kind of fruit about the size of a coffee berry, and 

 yellow in colour, which hangs in clusters from a species 

 of bejuco, both Paujis and Pavas are particularly fond. 

 Pava is the native name of one of the penelopes, and it 

 is as common as the Pauji in this region. But of all the 

 larger birds none affects these densely wooded parts of the 

 forest more than the Crrulla,^ one of the Psophiidce. There 

 are few birds more striking in appearance than this 

 trumpeter. It is generally met with in flocks, which at 

 times consist of quite a large number of individuals. 

 If a flock be disturbed while the birds are feeding close 

 together on the ground, as is their habit, they usually 

 make off in a body and go a considerable distance before 



' Psophia crepitans. 



