WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 293 



the trees of Guiana, and appear like huge black 

 balls. I wish there had been proof positive of 

 this ; but the breeding time was over ; and in the 

 ants' nests which I examined, I could find no 

 marks of birds having ever been in them. Early 

 in January the jacamar is in fine plumage for 

 the cabinet of the naturalist. The largest species 

 measures ten inches and a half from the point of 

 the beak to the end of the tail ; its name amongst 

 the Indians is Una-waya-adoucati, that is, grand- 

 father of the jacamar. It is certainly a splendid 

 bird ; and in brilliancy and changeableness of its 

 metallic colours, it yields to none of the Asiatic 

 and African feathered tribe. The colours of the 

 female are nearly as bright as those of the male, 

 but she wants the white feathers on the throat. 

 The large jacamar is pretty common about two 

 hundred miles up the river Demerara. 



Here I had a fine opportimity once more of 

 examining the Three-toed Sloth. He was in the 

 house with me for a day or two. Had I taken a 

 description of him as he lay sprawling on the 

 floor, I should have misled the world, and injured 

 natural history. On the ground he appeared 

 really a bungled composition, and faulty at all 

 points; awkwardness and misery were depicted 

 on his countenance; and when I made him ad- 

 vance he sighed as though in pain. Perhaps it was, 

 that by seeing him thus out of his element as it 

 were, that the Count de Buffon, in his history of 

 the sloth, asks the question — "Wliy should not 

 some animals be created for misery, since, in the 

 human species, the greatest number of individuals 

 are devoted to pain from the moment of their 



