ELEVEN WEEKS IN NORTH-EASTERN BRAZIL. 271 



81. GrALBTJLA BUFO-VIRIDIS. 



I saw my first live Jacamars when driving between Iguarassu and 

 Goyanna, in the thick forests that in many places border the highroad 

 between the two towns. Here they seemed to be rather abundant, 

 coming out in the early morning and perching on the trees or telegraph- 

 wires (!) lining the road. I once saw as many as three close together, 

 though they are usually solitary. They seemed quiet and apathetic, and 

 not at all shy, flying off, like Tyrannidse, from their perch after food 

 and again returning. Subsequently I again met with Jacamars, but only 

 singly, in the woods near Caxanga and at Parahyba. I tried very hard 

 to obtain live specimens, but, in spite of offering good rewards, the 

 Brazilians were much too lazy to trouble themselves about procuring ibis, 1881, 

 living birds. The name " Jacamar " I never heard used by them ; they P- 35 - 

 call the birds " Bejaflor do matto," or " Bejaflor Grande," evidently 

 thinking the bird only a kind of gigantic Hummer. 



The irides are brown. 



82. CEOTOPHAGA ANI. 



The " Anu," or, as it is called by many Englishmen, the " Black 

 Parrot " (I suppose from some fancied resemblance in the bill), is one of 

 the most characteristic birds of Brazil. They may be seen everywhere in 

 the neighbourhood of cultivation, coming even into the gardens round 

 Recife, and being most abundant in the neighbourhood of cattle. They 

 are eminently social birds, the flocks usually numbering about twentv 

 individuals, though sometimes much less. They like to perch on low 

 trees and bushes, and a bush may often be seen with a dozen or more 

 of these " black birds " settled on it. If alarmed one rises and flies 

 slowly away, the others following with a chorus of their low, plaintive, 

 rather whistling note, which sounds a good deal like ennui, with the last 

 syllable accented. In flight the long tail is extended straight out behind 

 the body, and the wings are kept rather horizontal and move but slowly 

 and feebly. The Anu seems very fond of the sun ; and I have sometimes 

 seen twenty or more perched in a row on the top of a wall sunning 

 themselves and preening their feathers. Whilst so engaged they often 

 elevate their tail and bring it forward over the head, in much the same 

 way as Toucans sometimes do. 



83. GrUIEA PIEIEIGUA. 



This Cuckoo I only saw at Parahyba, where I once or twice came 

 across a small flock of three or four individuals in the garden near the 

 town. In flight and cry it much resembles Crotophaga ; and the Bra- 

 zilians rightly recognize the affinity of the two genera by calling the 



