CiLvr. VII. BEAUTIFUL BIRDS. 345 



gentlemen — it is said the ladies also — spend the sultry 

 hours of midday bathing in the cold and bracing waters. 

 This place is classic gTOund to the Naturalist, from having 

 been a favourite spot with the celebrated travellers Spix 

 and Martins, during their stay at Barra in 1820. Von 

 Martins was so much impressed by its magical beauty 

 that he commemorated the visit by making a sketch of 

 the scenery serve as background in one of the plates 

 of his gi'eat work on the palms. 



Birds and insects, however, were scarce amidst these 

 charming sylvan scenes. I often traversed the wdiole 

 distance from Barra to the waterfall, about two miles 

 by the forest road, without seeing or hearing a bird, 

 or meeting with so many as a score of Lepidopterous 

 and Coleopterous insects. In the thinner woods near 

 the borders of the forest many pretty little blue and 

 green creepers of the Dacnidse group, were daily seen 

 feeding on berries ; and a few^ very handsome birds 

 occurred in the forest. But the latter were so rare 

 that we could obtain them only by employing a native 

 hunter ; who used to spend a whole day, and go a great 

 distance, to obtain two or three specimens. In this way 

 I obtained, amongst others, specimens of the Trogon 

 pavoninus (the Suruqua grande of the natives), a 

 most beautiful creature, having soft golden green plu- 

 mage, red breast, and an orange-coloured beak ; also 

 the Ampelis Pompadoura, a rich glossy-purple chatterer 

 with wings of a snowy-white hue. The borders of the 

 forest yielded me more insects also than the shady cen- 

 tral pathways. A few species occurred which I had pre- 

 viously found at Obydos and Serpa, but certain kinds 



