76 



ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF ANIMALS. 



Few insects appear : and he may frequently ride for 

 hours without meeting with a single lepidopterous insect 

 worth preserving. Vegetation has lost its luxuriance, 

 and with it the power of nourishing those innumerable 

 insects which feed on the tender and juicy leaves of 

 plants flowering in a rich and humid soil. The low 

 trees and scanty thickets produce a variety of small 

 berries, affording nourishment to the hard-billed ta- 

 nagers and finches, few of which are met with in the 

 forests of the coast. The Sertem, or inland country, 

 particularly the tdbulas, are the chosen haunts of nearly 

 all the parrakeets : here they are seen, in flocks in- 

 numerable, living upon the berries ; while the harder 

 nuts of the different palms so frequently met with in 

 the interior, are the favourite food of the larger parrots 

 and mackaws. The humming-birds, also, are never 

 seen in the recesses of forests ; for, as they principally 

 live on vegetable juices, they naturally frequent the 

 more open tracts and the thickets of the Catinga woods, 

 abounding in small but odoriferous flowers. The 

 Catingas, again, have their peculiar inhabitants. The 

 animals principally found here are the sloths, armadillos, 

 cavies, and squirrels ; while a few of the smaller monkeys 

 seem to prefer these lesser woods to the forests. The 

 insects are more numerous than on the Tabularas ; 

 but they are small, and only interesting to the na- 

 26 ^B^ turalist from their locality. 



The bush-shrikes (Thamno- 

 philus) and the ant-thrushes 

 (Drymophila Sw.) are also 

 nearly peculiar to the Catingas ; 

 to which many of the fruit- 

 eaters (Ampelidcs Sw.) resort, 

 at certain seasons, to devour 

 the berrries. Few of these 

 splendid birds (of which the blue-collared Ampelis 

 Catinga L. (fig. 26.) is, perhaps, the most magnificent) 

 are found near the coast. 



(108.) The Campos, or plains, are still more thinly 



