358 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



TROPICAL BIRD LIFE IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



The Toucan — Its Quarrelsome Character — The Humming-birds — Their wide 

 Eange over the New World — Their Habits — Their Enemies — Their Courage 

 — The Cotingas — The Campanero — The Tangaras — The Manakins — The 

 Cock of the Rock — The Troupials — The Baltimore — The Pendulous Nests of 

 the Cassiques — The Mocking-bird — Strange Voices of Tropical Birds — The 

 Goat-sucker's Wail — The Organista — The Cilgero — The Flamingos — The 

 Scarlet Ibis — The Jabiru — The Eoseate Spoon-bill — The Jacana — The Calao 

 — The Sun-birds — The Melithreptes — The Argus — The Peacock — The Lyre 

 Bird — The Birds of Paradise — The Australian Bower-bird — The Talegalla — 

 The Devil-bird — The Baya — The Tailor-bird — The Republican Gros-beak — 

 The Korwe. 



USEFUL in many respects to man, no class of animals is 

 more interesting or agreeable to him than that of the 

 birds, whether we consider the beauty of their plumage, the 

 grace of their movements, the melody of their voice, or the 

 instinct that regulates their migrations and prompts them to 

 construct their nests ; so that their study forms, without doubt, 

 one of the most attractive departments in the whole range of 

 natural history. 



But it is at the same time one of the most difficult, parti- 

 cularly in countries where man has not yet mastered the powers 

 of vegetation, where numberless creepers and bush-ropes render 

 the forest impenetrable, and the pathless wilderness obstructs 

 the observer at every step. Thus it is by no means surprising 

 that so many secrets still veil the life of the tropical birds — 

 that comparatively so little is known as yet of their economy 

 and mode of existence. 



Many families of birds have a wide range over the whole 

 earth : falcons hover over the Siberian fir-woods, as over the 

 forests of the Amazons ; in every zone are found woodpeckers, 

 owls, and long-beaked martin-fishers, while thrushes enliven 



