Chap. II. ARBOREAL NATURE OF THE FAUNA. 71 



drawn, wailing note of the Inambu, a kind of partridge 

 (Crypturus cinereus ?) ; and, also, in the hollows on the 

 banks of the rivulets, the noisy notes of another bird, 

 which seemed to go in pairs, amongst the tree-tops, 

 calling to each other as they went. These notes re- 

 sounded through the solitude. Another solitary bird had 

 a most sweet and melancholy song ; it consisted simply 

 of a few notes, uttered in a plaintive key, commencing 

 high, and descending by harmonic intervals. It w^as 

 probably a species of warbler of the genus Trichas. All 

 these notes of birds are very striking and characteristic 

 of the forest. 



I afterwards saw reason to modify my opinion, founded 

 on these 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, bii'ds, and reptiles, but they are widely scat- 

 tered, 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 when some particular spot is 

 found which is more attractive than others. Brazil, 

 moreover, is throughout poor in teiTestrial mammals, 

 and the species are of small size ; they do not, therefore, 

 form a conspicuous feature in its 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. The largest and most 

 interesting portion of the Brazilian mammal fauna is 

 arboreal in its habits ; this feature of the animal denizens 



