JUAN VI N AS— THE REVENTAZON VALLEY 215 



ber in bloom was noticeably less. Another beautiful Feb- 

 ruary flower was a purple composite {Vernonia sp.) which 

 bore long compound racemes of delicate feathery purple 

 flowers. It grew six to eight feet high and was rather rank 

 and coarse, but the blossoms were as delicate and dainty as 

 could be. Growing in a little wet place near the Naranjo 

 was the same red Hibiscus we had gathered in the laguna. 



Almost at the bottom of the valley in a patch of forest 

 rich in small palms our attention was attracted by a tree 

 about fifteen feet high (Symphonia glohulifera) with curious 

 red flowers. We gathered some and on our return a peon 

 on the road told us the tree was called "jorquito." The 

 corolla of this flower is thick and fleshy, and completely 

 fused; it has the peculiarity of falling off from the ovary as 

 a complete, depressed ring about three-quarters inch across, 

 with an opening of one-quarter inch. The coral-red buds 

 were round and fleshy and looked like berries. 



There were many birds in the Reventazon valley, some 

 of which we heard without seeing. The dropping, three- 

 toned call of the ant thrushes, heard on our first visit in 

 June, became ever associated with this place. In June, and 

 in still greater numbers in late July, swallow-tailed kites 

 {Elanoides forficatus) were conspicuous — we have counted 

 twelve at once. They are known to the Costa Ricans as 

 "gavilan tijerilla" or "tijereta." These birds were about 

 the size of crows, above mostly black, with a white head, 

 pure white below. Their most striking features were the 

 contrasting blacks and whites and the long, deeply forked, 

 wide-spreading tail. They are consummately graceful 

 birds, and their airy evolutions as they soared, turned, 

 floated upward or downward, or circled in one plane with 

 never a flap of their wings, formed a beautiful sight. The 

 common zopilotes can likewise soar wonderfully but com- 

 pared to these kites they seem heavy and clumsy. In late 



