650 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



liim, lie takes tlicin off admirably, and by bis different gestures during the time, you 

 would conclude that be enjoys tbe sport. 



Wild and strange are tbe voices of many of the American forest-birds. Tn the 

 Peruvian woods tbe black Toropisbu ( Cephalopterus ornatus) makes the thicket re- 

 sound with his hoarse cry, resembling tbe distant lowing of a bull ; and in the same 

 regions the fiery-red and black winged Tunqui {Rupicola Peruviana) sends forth a 

 note, which might readily be iiiisluken for tbe grunting of a hog, and strangely con- 

 trasts with tbe brilliancy of bis plumage. But of all tbe startling cries that issue 

 from tbe depths of the forest, none is more remarkable than the Goatsucker's lament- 

 able wail. " Suppose yourself in hopeless sorrow," says TVaterton, " begin with a 

 hi"h loud note, and pronounce ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ! each note lower and lower till tbe 

 last is scarcely heard, pausing a moment or two between every note, and you will have 

 some idea of tbe mourning of the largest goatsucker in Demarara. Four other species of 

 goatsucker articulate some words so distinctly, that they have received their names from 

 the sentences they utter, and absolutely bewilder tbe stranger on his arrival in these parts- 

 Tbe most common one sits down close by your door, and flies or alights three or four 

 yards before you, as you walk along tbe road, crying, " Who are you, who-wbo-who- 

 who are you?" Another bids you, "Work away, work-work-work away." A third 

 cries mournfully, '' Willy come go, Willy -Willy- Willy come go." And high up in 

 the country, a fourth tells you to, " Whip-poor-Will, whip whip-whip poor-Will." 



While tbe goatsucker makes the forest resound with his funereal tones, other birds 

 of the forest pour forth tbe sweetest notes. Dressed in a sober cinnamon brown robe, 

 with blackish olive-colored bead and neck, the Organist {Troglodytes leucoplmjs) en- 

 livens the solitude of the Peruvian forests. The astonished wanderer stops to listen 

 to the strain, and forgets the impending storm. The Cilgero, a no less delightful song- 

 ster, frequents tbe mountain regions of Cuba, and tbe beauty of his notes may be 

 inferred from the extravagant price of several hundred dollars, which the rich Jav- 

 anese are ready to pay for a captive bird. 



Tbe same beauty of plumage which characterizes so many of the American forest- 

 birds, adorns, likewise, tbe feathered tiibes of the swamp and the morass, of tbe river 

 and the lake. Nothing can exceed in beauty a troop of deep red Flamingos {Phoeni- 

 copterus ruber) on tbe green margin of a stream. Raised on enormous stilts, and 

 with an equally disproportionate length of neck, the flamingos would be reckoned 

 ainong the most uncouth birds, if their splendid robe did not entitle them to rank 

 among the most beautiful. They always live in troops, and range themselves, whether 

 fisbinor or restin";, like soldiers, in Ion"; lines. One of tbe number acts as sentinel, and 

 on tbe approach of danger gives a warning scream, like the sound of a trumpet, when, 

 instantly, tbe whole troop, expanding their flaming wings, rise loudly clamoring into the 

 air. These strange formed birds build in the swamps high conical nests of mud, in 

 tbe shape of a hillock with a cavity at top, in which tbe female generally lays two 

 white eggs of the size of those of a goose, but more elongated. Tbe rude construc- 

 tion is sufficiently high to admit of her sitting on it conveniently, or rather riding, as 

 the legs are placed on each side at full length. Their mode of feeding is no less 

 remarkable. Twisting their neck in such a manner that the upper part of their bill is 

 applied to tbe ground, they at tbe same timp disturb the mud with one of their webbed 

 feet, thus raising up from the water insects and spawn, on which they chiefly subsist. 



