34 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



puma is afraid of man ; while the bloodthirsty jaguar penetrates 

 into the plantations, where he lies in wait for the oxen and 

 horses, and avoids with remarkable sagacity, the manifold traps 

 and pitfalls that are laid for him by the hacienderos. 



In the cultivated districts Opossums are found among the low 



bushes, in deserted dwellings, or in 



^fy^^^tjl^^^ storerooms ; armadillos [Dasypus 



^s^^SKttK/tlfgm^y. tatuay) are sometimes shot in the 



_^^ ^f^^ aJl^^^vl, fields, and wild hogs of an enormous 



y^^'^^^^^^^xS^'^^'^^^ size infest the thickets near some of 



'*^ * w:^\ |.j^g plantations. 



Instead of the antelope and the 

 gazelle of the African deserts, the Venado, a species of deer, 

 makes its appearance on the Peruvian coast. It chiefly lives in 

 the low bushes, which are scattered here and there, and after 

 sunset visits the cultivated fields where it causes considerable 

 damage. 



Besides the numerous sea- and strand-birds, the carrion vul- 

 tures and the condor, often found in large numbers feasting 

 upon the marine animals that have been cast ashore, are the 

 most conspicious among the feathered tribes of the coast. A 

 small falcon (Falco sparverius) is likewise often seen, and a 

 small burrowing owl {Athene cunicularia) haunts almost every 

 ruinous building. The pearl-owl (Strix perlata), performing the 

 useful services of our own barn-owl, is protected and encouraged 

 in many plantations, as it thins the ranks of the mice. Swallow^s 

 are scarce ; nor do they build their nests on the houses, but on 

 solitary walls, far from the habitations of man. 



Among the singing birds, the beautiful crowned fly-catcher 

 {Myoarchus coronatus) is one of the most remarkable. Its 

 head, breast and belly are of a burning red ; its wings and back 

 blackish brown. It always sits upon the highest top of the 

 bushes, flies vertically upwards, whirls about a short time sing- 

 ing in the air, and then again descends in a straight line upon 

 its former resting-place. Some tanagras and parrots, and two 

 starling-like birds, the red-breasted picho and the histrous black 

 chivillo, that are frequently kept in cages on account of their 

 agreeable song, are found in the coast-valleys ; and various 

 pigeons, among others the neat little turtuli and the more 

 stately cuculi* frequent the neighbourhood of the plantations. 



I 



