ASCENT OF THE PARAMILLO 135 



intended to be defiled by the touch of mortal hands. If a 

 specimen is shot, many of the feathers are lost before the 

 bird reaches the ground, and at the impact of the ground 

 many more are shed. The skin is so delicate that it takes 

 an expert to remove it, and even then the bird is the despair 

 of field-naturalist and taxidermist alike. 



There was also a splendid representation of the parrot 

 family, ranging from noisy little parrakeets to huge, green 

 amazons. This reminded me of an interesting provision of 

 nature whereby three families of birds frequently found in 

 the same locality are able to obtain their sustenance. They 

 are the parrots, trogons, and toucans, all of which feed 

 upon fruit, each seeming to secure its food in a different 

 manner. The zygodactyl feet of parrots enable them to 

 climb out to the tip of fruit-laden branches and to cling to 

 them in any position while feeding; toucans, endowed with 

 an emormously elongated bill are able to reach a long dis- 

 tance for a coveted morsel, which is grasped between the 

 tip of the mandibles and tossed back with an upward jerk 

 of the head, to be swallowed; a trogon has a very short 

 beak and neck, and the delicate feet are not adapted to 

 climbing, but the wings of the bird are so constructed as 

 to enable it to hover, from which position the fruit it de- 

 sires may be snapped off the stem, when the bird returns 

 to its perch to devour it. 



One day our host's son, aged thirteen, undertook to guide 

 me to a distant part of the forest, where he said a large 

 herd of peccaries had their feeding-ground. At first we 

 passed through a part of the country well known to me, as 

 I had taken a number of hunting excursions over the same 

 ground; then we ascended a steep slope and, reaching the 

 top, began to explore a vast stretch of heavy woods but 

 rarely visited by any one. Although we had come for the 

 express purpose of hunting peccaries, there were so many 

 rare prizes on all sides that it was impossible to adhere 

 strictly to our first intention; the temptation to add new 

 treasures to our collection proved too great. Dainty little 



