40 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



along the water's edge. There is much animation, too, on this 

 great stream. Numerous flocks of parrots and the great red 

 and yellow macaws fly across every morning and evening, 

 uttering their hoarse cries. Many kinds of herons and rails 

 frequent the marshes on its banks, and a great handsome 

 duck {Ghenalohex jubata) is often seen swimming about the 

 bays and inlets. But perhaps the most characteristic birds of 

 the Amazons are the gulls and terns which are in great abun- 

 dance. All night long their cries are heard over the sand 

 banks where they deposit their eggs, and during the day they 

 may constantly be seen, sitting in a row on a floating log, some- 

 times a dozen or twenty side by side, and going for miles 

 down the stream as grave and motionless as if they were on 

 some very important business. These birds deposit their eggs 

 in little hollows in the sand, and the Indians say that during 

 the heat of the day they carry water in their beaks to moisten 

 them, and prevent them being roasted by the scorching sun. 

 Besides these there are divers and darters in abundance, por- 

 poises are constantly blowing in every direction, and alligators 

 are often seen slowly swimming across the river. An amazing 

 number of fishes peoples the waters of the Amazons and its 

 tributaries. They supply the Indians with the greater part of 

 their animal food, and are at all times more plentiful and 

 easier to be obtained than birds or game from the forest. Mr. 

 Wallace found 205 species in the Rio Negro alone, and as 

 most of those which inhabit the upper part of the river are 

 not found near its mouth, where there are many other kinds 

 equally unknown in the clearer, darker, and probably colder 

 waters of its higher branches, he estimates that at least 500 

 species exist in the Eio Negro and its tributary streams. 

 In fact, in every small river and in different parts of the same 

 river distinct kinds are found, so that it is impossible to esti- 

 mate the number in the whole valley of the Amazons with 

 any approach to accuracy. 



To describe the countless tribes of insects that swarm in the 

 dense forests of that vast basin would be equally vain. In no 

 country in the world is there more variety and beauty, nowhere 

 are there species of larger size and of more brilliant colours. 

 The great mass of the beetles are indeed inferior to those of 

 tropical Africa, India, and Australia, but it is in the lovely 



