118 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



continue to teacli, pure and unspotted, till time 

 shall be no more." 



The en\'irons of Pernambuco are very pretty. 

 You see country houses in all directions, and the 

 appearance of here and there a sugar plantation 

 enriches the scenery. Palm-trees, Cocoa-nut- 

 trees, Orange and Lemon groves, and all the 

 different fruits peculiar to Brazil, are here in the 

 greatest abundance. 



At Olinda there is a national botanical garden; 

 it wants space, produce, and improvement. The 

 forests, which are several leagues off, abound 

 with birds, beasts, insects, and serpents. Besides 

 a brilliant plumage, many of the birds have a very 

 fine song. The Troupiale, noted for its rich 

 colours, sings delightfully in the environs of 

 Pernambuco. The Red-headed Finch, larger than 

 the European sparrow, pours forth a sweet and 

 varied strain, in company with two species of 

 wrens, a little before daylight. There are also 

 several species of the tlirush, which have a song 

 somewhat different from that of the European 

 thrush ; and two species of the linnet, whose strain 

 is so soft and sweet that it dooms them to cap- 

 tivity in the Houses. A bird called here Sangre 

 do Buey, blood of the ox, cannot fail to engage 

 your attention; he is of the passerine tribe, and 

 very common about the houses ; the wings and tail 

 are black, and every other part of the body a 

 flaming red. In Guiana, there is a species exactly 

 the same as this in shape, note, and economy, but 

 different in colour, its whole body being like black 

 velvet; on its breast a tinge of red appears 

 through the black. Thus nature has ordered this 



