474 EXPLANATOKY INDEX. 



bird/ he continues very truly, ' might be styled the perpetual 

 motion, its body making a continual movement, and its tail 

 keeping time like the pendulum of a clock.' " 



Stedman also calls it by the name of Flycatcher, one of 

 the many instances of misleading nomenclature which are to 

 be found in books of travel. The colour of the sun-bird is 

 reddish, spotted with black, and there is a round black spot 

 on the small head. The beak and legs are green. 



T. 



TANGARA. Mis-spelling for Tanager. See " Sangre do 

 Buey." 



TAPIR (Tapirus terrestris). The Tapirs form one of the 

 links connecting the elephants with the swine, and the 

 only species which survive, i.e. in Tropical America, Malacca 

 and Sumatra, really look as if they were extinct pachyderms 

 that had been restored to the world. 



The Tapir is never found far from the water, in which it 

 disports itself as if it belonged naturally to that element. If 

 alarmed on land, it always makes for the river, into which it 

 plunges, and then can escape from any foe except man. It is 

 a vegetable eater, feeding mostly on wild gourds, melons, and 

 similar fruits. It is easily tamed, and soon becomes as 

 familiar as a dog. 



TAURONIRA (Humirium floribundum). Found plentifully 

 in sandy ground near swamps, but not in them. 



The natives perfume their hair with a minute fungus which 

 always grows in the newly-cut wood of the Tauronira. The 

 timber is chiefly used for house-frames and wheel-spokes. 

 The tree is about ninety feet in height. 



TIGER. See "Jaguar." 



TIGER-BIRD. There are several species of these birds, 

 which evidently derive their popular name from the mottled 

 brown and yellow under-surface in some of the species. That 

 which is mentioned by Waterton is Capita Cayanus. They 



