JUAN VI N AS— AROUND THE LAGUNA 177 



a single sharp note followed by a long flute-like trill on sev- 

 eral lower notes. It was interesting to see him look sharply 

 at the tree-trunk he was standing on, with his head first on 

 one side then the other, then with head drawn back, utter 

 his loud song and as he finished the last note give a few re- 

 sounding taps to the tree. 



Toucans were not often observed near our cabin but on 

 April 26 one flew across the road close enough for his immense 

 green bill to be seen plainly. As It flew with the grotesque 

 bill held straight out it looked for an instant like a bird which 

 had stuck a banana on its beak end-wise and was flying 

 away with it. We could not get very near, but the bird 

 perched on a bare tree where it showed clearly against the 

 sky. 



The railroad offered a means of walking about in all seasons 

 of the year, especially in wet weather when the cartroads 

 were deep in mud, and we used it very frequently. It af- 

 forded fine views of the Reventazon canon both up and down- 

 stream after passing out of the crater. Along it, here and 

 there, occurred "guarumo" or Cecropia trees, which have 

 rather sprawly, "candelabra-like" branching and whitish 

 trunks, each branch tipped with a cluster of large, deeply 

 divided palmate leaves. They are highly typical of tropical 

 America. The hollow stems are divided by cross partitions 

 at the nodes which show on the outside of the trunk and are 

 often, but not always, Inhabited by belligerent ants of the 

 genus Azteca. Although It has been held that the foliage 

 is protected by the presence of these ants, Wheeler (1913) 

 "after examining hundreds of young and old trees" has 

 come to the conclusion of von Ihering and of Fiebrig that 

 the "Cecropias have no more need of the Aztecas than dogs 

 have of their fleas." One of these Cecropias, to the west 

 of the crater, had a large pendent paper-covered wasps' 

 nest on one of its branches and so became a definite land- 



