JUNGLE LIFE AT AREMU. 339 



been quietly watching me and resting after having returned 

 with a load of game. 



We struck the broken twig trail on which we secured the 

 old howling monkey yesterday, and a few hundred yards 

 from the spot we heard the young male roaring. He had 

 improved wonderfully on his falsetto yell of yesterday, and 

 except for a general weakness of volume and an occasional 

 break and tendency to get out of breath, he made a good 

 showing in the vocal gymnastics of his race. Twice after 

 this we ran across the youngster and each time he was howling, 

 but entirely alone. He had not yet secured a mate and his 

 mother and aunt had apparently deserted him upon his 

 assumption of leadership! 



A half-hour's walk close to the clearing this afternoon 

 revealed birds everywhere in flocks, passing leisurely. Small 

 Woodpeckers were tapping, Wood hewers picking and pry- 

 ing, Antbirds peering under leaves and twigs, and the Fly- 

 catchers audibly snapping up insects in mid-air. The jungle 

 was filled with dee-dee-dees, chirps, chucks, low mewings 

 and whistles, while a rain of falling leaves, ripe berries, dead 

 twigs and bits of bark marked the progress of the Hocks. I 

 shot a number of birds which were new to me, one of which 

 I could not find until after ten minutes' search. When I 

 discovered it, a line of ants live yards long hud formed and 

 it was covered with their bodies. So swiftly do tropical 

 scavangers work ! 



I secured a Wedge-billed Pygmy Woodhewer !H1 with its 

 single young one, which must have left the nest that very 

 day. Curiously enough, the latter perched as often as it 

 clung to the tree-trunks, and keeping this in mind I found 

 that the measurements of the two birds were very interesting. 

 There was almost no difference between the length of the 

 wings and beaks of parent and young, but the tail of the 

 young bird was only i^ inches in length as compared with 



