254 THE LOWER AMAZONS. Chap. VI. 



probably the Mimus lividus of ornithologists. I found 

 it afterwards to be a common bird in the scattered 

 woods of the campo district near Santarem. It is a 

 much smaller and plainer-coloured bird than our thrush, 

 and its song is not so loud, varied, or so long sustained ; 

 but the tone is of a sweet and plaintive quality, which 

 harmonizes well with the wild and silent woodlands, 

 where alone it is heard in the mornings and evenings 

 of sultry tropical days. In course of time the song of 

 this humble thrush stirred up pleasing associations in 

 my mind, in the same way as those of its more highly 

 endowed sisters formerly did at home. There are 

 several allied species in Brazil ; in the southern pro- 

 vinces they are called Sabiahs. The Brazilians are not 

 insensible to the charms of this their best songster, for 

 I often heard some pretty verses in praise of the Sabiah 

 sung by young people to the accompaniment of the 

 guitar. I found several times the nest of the Carashue, 

 which is built of dried grass and slender twigs, and lined 

 with mud; the eggs are coloured and spotted like those 

 of our blackbird, but they are considerably smaller. I 

 was much pleased with a brilliant little red-headed 

 manikin, which I shot here (Pipra cornuta). There 

 were three males seated on a low branch, and hopping 

 slowly backwards and forwards, near to one another, as 

 though engaged in a kind of dance. In the pleasant 

 airy woods surrounding the sandy shores of the pool 

 behind the town, the yellow-bellied Trogon (T. viridis) 

 was very common. Its back is of a brilliant metallic- 

 green colour, and the breast steel blue. The natives 

 call it the Suruqua do Ygapo, or Trogon of the flooded 



