in ANIMAL LIFE IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS 271 



notes those points in which the forests of the equatorial zone 

 offer different phenomena. Here, as in the case of plants, we 

 exclude all zoological science, classifications, and nomenclature, 

 except in as far as it is necessary for a clear understanding 

 of the several groups of animals referred to. We shall there- 

 fore follow no systematic order in our notes, except that 

 which would naturally arise from the abundance or prominence 

 of the objects themselves. We further suppose our traveller 

 to have no prepossessions, and to have no favourite group, in 

 the search after which he passes by other objects which, in 

 view of their frequent occurrence in the landscape, are really 

 more important. 



General Aspect of the Animal Life of Equatorial Forests 

 Perhaps the most general impression produced by a first 

 acquaintance with the equatorial forests is the comparative 

 absence of animal life. Beast, bird, and insect alike require 

 looking for, and it very often happens that we look for them 

 in vain. On this subject Mr. Bates, describing one of his 

 early excursions into the primeval forests of the Amazon 

 valley, remarks as follows : " We were disappointed in not 

 meeting with any of the larger animals of the forest. There 

 was no tumultuous movement or sound of life. We did not 

 see or hear monkeys, and no tapir or jaguar crossed our path. 

 Birds also appeared to be exceedingly scarce." Again : " I 

 afterwards saw reason to modify my opinion, founded on first 

 impressions, with regard to the amount and variety of animal 

 life in this and other parts of the Amazonian forests. There 

 is, in fact, a great variety of mammals, birds, and reptiles, but 

 they are widely scattered and all excessively shy of man. The 

 region is so extensive and uniform in the forest clothing of its 

 surface, that it is only at long intervals that animals are seen 

 in abundance, where some particular spot is found which is 

 more attractive than others. Brazil, moreover, is throughout 

 poor in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of small size ; 

 they do not, therefore, form a conspicuous feature in the 

 forests. The huntsman would be disappointed who expected 

 to find here flocks of animals similar to the buffalo-herds of 

 North America, or the swarms of antelopes and herds of 

 ponderous pachyderms of Southern Africa. We often read 



