JUNGLE LIFE AT AREMU. 341 



Flycatcher. Good-sized pieces were bitten out of the two 

 hind wings and one of the others was doubled and broken. 

 Yet the brave little insect was far from giving up and managed 

 to fly slowly, albeit with a heavy slant to one side, the loose 

 wing making a whizzing sound as it vibrated. I followed 

 to see its ultimate fate. As it passed the end of a log a green 

 lizard leaped from a leaf and seized the unfortunate insect 

 in mid-air, thus typifying the anlaga of bird flight. The 

 lizard fell full length upon a rounded pile of dead leaves and 

 like a bomb there shot forth the whirring form of the Quail, 

 which scaled off between the trees. 



We found the Douraquara 8 had rocketted from a tunnel 

 about a foot in length, made of twigs and dead leaves, which 

 led to a round hidden nest cavity containing four white eggs, 

 one of which was broken. On the following day the Quail 

 had removed all trace of broken egg and shell. So com- 

 pletely was the nest a part of the jungle floor that never 

 exccpt by accident would we have discovered it. 



Day after day, on every tramp we took we were more and 

 more impressed with the myriad examples of protective form 

 and coloration. As I have said before, it is the immense 

 variety rather than the exactness of detail which makes these 

 resemblances so effective. I became so confused at times that 

 repeatedly I would net a falling leaf (,r blossom or even lire 

 at an imaginary bird, or on the other hand fail altogether to 

 notice some rare bird or insect until I passed on some distance 

 and happened to turn around. For instance, while walking 

 along I saw something drift down and catch on a leaf. I 

 thought to myself, this is surely an insect, although a most 

 remarkable mimic. Then I bent over and examined it 

 closely, lifting the branch close to my eyes, and decided it 

 was nothing but a dead leaf, half curled and shrivelled up. 

 As I turned away I swooped at it idly with my net and lo! 

 it took to flight and cost me several yards of hard pursuit 



