BIRD LIFE OF BARTICA 107 



Twenty-seven groups of birds I classed in general as 

 protectively colored, that is, I have seen numbers of each 

 of these groups freeze motionless as I passed by, or when a 

 hawk or some other direct source of danger appeared. Some 

 of them, when held in the hand or examined in a museum 

 case, would never be considered as protected by pigment, and 

 in these instances the marvelous kaleidoscope of the jungle, 

 plus absolute motionlessness, was their safeguard. 



Of birds directly protected by their pigments and pat- 

 terns, tinamou, partridges and goatsuckers were saturated 

 with the brown and buff essences of the jungle floor. Wood- 

 hewers had drawn over themselves the screen of reddish- 

 brown and dull lichen spots of the tree-trunks. The black 

 and white contrasty shadows of the dim mid- jungle sheltered 

 the curassows, guans, jungle pigeons, sun-bitterns, owls, 

 goldbirds, manakins and thrushes. Finally the green foliage 

 of the jungle roof was reflected from the plumage of par- 

 rots, parrakeets and vireos. In the clearing, chachalacas, 

 ground doves, rails and cuckoos were protected in their vari- 

 ous niches of life, waders and colored herons less well con- 

 cealed, put their trust far more in immobility. 



The remaining jungle birds, although not plainly en- 

 vironmentally colored, yet trusted their lives to a long chance 

 of being passed unobserved. Among these I found motmots, 

 trogons, barbets, jacamars and puffbirds. To take one of 

 these from a museum drawer would leave no option but to 

 call it conspicuous. To see it quail momentarily as I pre- 

 tended to pass and to realize the verj^ apparent difficulty of 

 detecting its white spots or metallic back or yellow sunlit 

 breast in this optical tower of babel was to feel certain that 

 other creatures desiring its death more than I, must also 

 have difficulty in distinguishing it. The great group of ant- 

 birds was fascinating in the individuality of its members and 

 collectively defied any specific classification. Some, like the 

 flycatchers of the clearing, were self-appointed guardians of 

 the jungle, and with bravery and unlimited curiosity exam- 



