176 ■ RIO PARANA. 



Being at anclior, as I have said, in one of the deep 

 creeks between the islands of the Parana, as the 

 evening drew to a close, one of these scissor-beaks 

 suddenly appeared. The water was quite still, and 

 many little fish were rising. The bird coirtinued 

 for a long time to skim the surface, flying in its 

 wild and iiTegular manner up and down the nar- 

 row canal, now dark with the gi'owing night and 

 the shadows of the overhanging trees. At Monte 

 Video, I observed that some large flocks during the 

 day remained on the mud-banks at the head of the 

 harbour, in the same manner as on the gi'assy 

 plains near the Parana ; and every evening they 

 took flight seaward. From these facts, I suspect 

 that the Rhynchops generally fishes by night, at 

 which time many of the lower animals come most 

 abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that 

 he has seen these birds opening the shells of the 

 mactrae buried in the sand-banks on the coast of 

 Chile : from their weak bills, with the lower man- 

 dible so much projecting, their short legs and long 

 wings, it is very improbable that this can be a 

 general habit. 



In our course down the Parana, I obsei-ved only 

 three other birds whose habits are worth mention- 

 ing. One is a small king-fisher (Ceryle Ameri- 

 cana) ; it has a longer tail than the European spe- 

 cies, and hence does not sit in so stiff" and upright 

 a position. Its flight also, instead of being direct 

 and rapid, like the course of an aiTow, is weak and 

 undulatory, as among the soft-billed birds. It ut- 

 ters a low note, like the clicking together of two 

 small stones. A small gi'een parrot (Conurus mu- 

 rinus), with a grey breast, appears to prefer the tall 

 trees on the islands to any other situation for its 

 building-place. A number of nests are placed so 

 close together as to form one great mass of sticks. 



