TEOPICAL FORESTS. 205 



vents the number of ground-feeding birds from being 

 so great in these places, also prevents the smaller 

 seed-eating mammalia. The small mammalia there 

 gnaw bark, and roots, and bulbs and fallen fruits. 

 The number of insect eating reptiles is also very 

 great. All these contribute to the food of the omni- 

 vorous races of those climbing birds ; but though 

 some of these eat eggs often and birds sometimes, 

 the destruction of bird by bird is not so great in those 

 forests as on the more bleak and barren portions of 

 the earth. There is no scope there for the rush of a 

 falcon, or the stoop of an eagle ; and in the depths 

 of the forest, the birds stand more in danger of prey- 

 ers that commonly crawl, than in those which have 

 wings or even feet. The snakes are the greatest 

 enemies both of the birds and their eggs. Vultures 

 are found in the openings of such forests, for places 

 where there is so much production, and by conse- 

 quence so much waste of life, require a great deal of 

 scavengership ; and where the forest " crops out," 

 towards the mountain, there are also hawks and 

 eagles ; but in the depth of the shade, bird is in a 

 great measure at peace with bird. Accordingly, 

 though there are some very curiously formed bills 

 among them, there are none that can be considered 

 as of a very murderous character, for the most formi- 

 dable ones belong to those which feed on vegetable 

 substances ; and the owners are so completely tree 

 birds that the bill is a climbing instrument, by the 

 hooked upper mandible of which they can, if neces- 

 sary, hang a considerable time without sustaining 

 any injury. 



The bills, though not admitting of typical ex- 

 ample or description, as appropriate to the whole 

 order, may yet be conveniently explained in groups. 



