t)m THE TKOIMCAL WORLD. 



of the owl, are too delicately formed to hear the light, retires 

 to the deepest recesses of the forest, but when the sun has sunk 

 behind the western woods, he may, on moonlight nights, be 

 seen silently hovering in the forest glades, or hopping about 

 among the herds. This poor bird has the character of a noc- 

 turnal thief, but never has a more unjust accusation been made, 

 as, far from robbing the flocks of their milk, he does all he can 

 to free them from insects. ' See how the nocturnal flies are 

 tormenting the herd,' says Waterton, ' and with what dexterity 

 he springs up, and catches them, as fast as they alight on the 

 belly, legs, and udder of the animals. Observe how quiet they 

 stand, and how sensible they seem of his good offices, for they 

 neither strike at him, nor hit him with their tail, nor tread on 

 him ; nor try to drive him away as an uncivil intruder. Were 

 you to dissect him, and inspect his stomach, you would find no 

 milk there : it is full of the flies which have been annoying 

 the herd.^ 



The large tropical nocturnal butterflies, or moths, form the 

 chief food of the wide-beaked Groatsucker, and the number of 

 their wings that may be seen lying about, give proof of the 

 ravages he commits among their ranks. For as the bat with 

 his hooked thumb cuts off the wings of the moths and cock- 

 chafers which he catches on his twilight excursions, thus, also, 

 the Groatsucker refrains from swallowing these parts, and his 

 hooked and incurvated upper mandible seems purposely in- 

 tended for clipping them. 



While the Groatsucker makes the forest resound with his 

 funereal tones, otlier birds of the forest pour forth the sweetest 

 notes. Dressed in a sober cinnamon brown robe, with blackish 

 olive-coloured head and neck, the Organist {Troglodytes leuco- 

 'phrys) enlivens the solitude of the Peruvian forests. The 

 astonished wanderer stops to listen to the strain, and forgets 

 the impending storm. TJie Cilgero, a no less delightful 

 songster, frequents the mountain regions of Cuba, and the 

 • beauty of his notes may be inferred from the extravagant price 

 of several hundred dollars, which the rich Havanese are ready 

 to pay for a captive bird. Wagner (' Travels in Costa Eica,' 

 1854) tells us that our nightingale is far inferior to the Cilgero, 

 who entertains his mate with the softest tones of the harmonica. 



