204 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



being a profane man, swearing vigorously in English and 

 German alternately at everything connected with flies 

 and ants. This abundance of insect life attracted a large 

 number of insectivorous birds ; ant-thrushes especially 

 were plentiful, and we managed to secure a good many 

 specimens. Of these ant-thrushes I think one of the 

 most conspicuous is the white-crested Pithys alhifrons, 

 a bird common enough, but rarely seen except when the 

 hunting ants {Eciton Sp.) happened to be abroad. 



As I have already described these ants and the ant- 

 thrushes in one of the chapters on the fauna of La Prision, 

 there is no need to refer to them in detail here. 



We stayed on the island from March 10 to 17, the 

 men being engaged hauling the boats through the forest. 

 It rained a good deal, particularly during the nights, and 

 once we heard peals of thunder in the distance. If our 

 things got wet it was next to impossible to dry them, as 

 the little sunlight which reached us through the branches 

 and leaves of the trees gave no heat. Even our bird-skins 

 and other specimens were with difficulty kept from spoil- 

 ing in the humid atmosphere of this dense forest. Jacob- 

 son, some of the men and myself, had frequent attacks of 

 fever, due, I suppose, in a great measure, to the damp- 

 ness of the locality. We were all glad when on the 

 morning of March 17 we started in single file for the 

 river, where the two boats had been launched. We had 

 been forced to leave behind the heaviest of the dug-outs, 

 as it would have taken too much time to have carried it 

 across also. At midday we reached the place where the 

 boats were. The river at this spot is 1,000 feet above 

 sea-level, and its bed for several miles beyond is one 

 immense mass of rock. Some of the men remained in 

 camp washing their clothes ; Ramon Ramirez completed 



