CROSSING THE BOLIVIAN HIGHLANDS 297 



chief pastimes was to look through a pack of cards in the 

 hopes of finding mosquitoes between them. Harpy eagles 

 also are very plentiful, and feed on the squirrel-monkeys 

 to a great extent, as they are easy to catch. However, 

 monkeys are not the only animals which suffer; we one day 

 found the remains of a sloth which had been dropped by 

 an eagle, the entire fore part of which had been eaten 

 away. 



There were numerous trees covered with vivid-scarlet 

 blossoms, scattered throughout the forest, and forming 

 gaudy little islands of color, which stood out very conspicu- 

 ously amid the green tree-tops. These trees are known as 

 madres de cacao, because they are frequently planted in 

 cacao-groves to shield the young plants from the sun. The 

 flowers contain so much nectar that numbers of birds feed 

 upon them, including parrots, macaws, and orioles; when 

 the brilliant blooms fall into the river they are greedily 

 snapped up by fish. 



Of small birds there was such a variety that it would be 

 impossible to mention all of them, but one in particular de- 

 serves attention. It is a species of manakin called the 

 "child of the sun" by the Yuracares, who look upon the 

 tiny creature with reverence and would not harm it under 

 any circumstances. The bird is not as large as a sparrow, 

 but is of stocky build, with a bright orange-red head and 

 neck, the remainder of the body being black. As it whirs 

 from branch to branch it makes a loud sputtering, crackling 

 noise which reminds one of a bunch of small, exploding fire- 

 crackers. The female of the species is of a dull-green color. 



At Todos Santos, as elsewhere, local migrations of birds 

 in the heart of the tropics were several times forcibly brought 

 to our attention. We had been hunting in the forest a 

 number of weeks and were pretty well acquainted with its 

 inhabitants; suddenly a species entirely new to us appeared 

 in great abundance in all parts of the region; each member 

 of the expedition, including the native assistants, brought 

 in specimens of it the same day. This can be explained 



