Chap. V. BIRDS. 333 



both kinds ; I used to see them, as I sat at my door 

 during the short evening twilights, trooping forth by 

 scores from a large open window at the back of the 

 altar, twittering cheerfully as they sped off to the 

 borders of the forest. They sometimes enter houses ; 

 the first time I saw one in my chamber, wheeling 

 heavily round and round, I mistook it for a pigeon, 

 thinking that a tame one had escaped from the pre- 

 mises of one of my neighbours. I opened the stomachs 

 of several of these bats, and found them to contain a 

 mass of pulp and seeds of fruits, mingled with a few 

 remains of insects.* The natives say they devour ripe 

 cajus and guavas on trees in the gardens, but on com- 

 paring the seeds taken from their stomachs with those 

 of all cultivated trees at Ega, I found they were unlike 

 any of them ; it is therefore probable that they gene- 

 rally resort to the forest to feed, coming to the village 

 in the morning to sleep, because they find it more 

 secure from animals of prey than their natural abodes 

 in the woods. 



Birds. — I have already had occasion to mention several 

 of the more interesting birds found in the Ega district. 

 The first thing that would strike a new-comer in the 

 forests of the Upper Amazons would be the general 

 scarcity of birds ; indeed, it often happened that I did 

 not meet with a single bird during a whole day's ramble 

 in the richest and most varied parts of the woods. Yet 



* The remains of insects belonged to species of Scarites (Coleoptera) 

 having blunt maxillary blades, several of which fly abroad in oreat 

 numbers on warm nights. 



