250 JUNGLE PEACE 



intangible gregarious instinct that day after day 

 the same heterogeneous flock may be observed, 

 identifiable by peculiarities of one or several of 

 its members. The only recognizable bond is 

 vocal — a constant low calling; half unconscious, 

 absent-minded little signals which keep the mem- 

 bers in touch with one another, spurring on the 

 laggards, retarding the overswift. 



While I watched, there came to my tree a 

 single species of pigeon, two hawks, and two 

 parrots, four hummingbirds, and an equal num- 

 ber of toucans and woodpeckers. The remain- 

 ing fifty-nine were all passerine birds, of which 

 there were eight each of the families of fly- 

 catchers, manakins, and cotingas. Eleven were 

 tanagers. 



The greedy, noisy parrakeets were always 

 the center of commotion, wasting more berries 

 than they ate. The toucans, those bizarre birds 

 of whose lives we know so little, yelped and 

 called and bathed in the water caught in the 

 stubs of branches, and fed to repletion. All the 

 flycatchers forgot their usual diet and took to 

 berrying as ardently as the tanagers themselves. 

 Not all the birds came to feed on the berries. 

 A wren hunted insects among the branches, and 



