THE LIFE OF THE ABARY SAVANNAS. 379 



welcomed as old friends Barn 121 and Tree Swallows, 128 

 whose twittering forms brought our northern autumn 

 marshes vividly to mind. Many Flycatchers and Seed- 

 eaters were nesting close by, while the beautiful Orioles 159 

 clung to their pendent nests over the water, and a House 

 Wren 124 divided his time between inspecting his brood in a 

 hollow stub at the foot of the bungalow steps, and sing- 

 ing his heart out, from the roof. The little "Rooties" or 

 Cinnamon Spine-tails 94 absurdly Wren-like but in reality 

 Woodhewers which have deserted tree-trunks for reeds 

 showed us their homes, concealed in great untidy balls of 

 twigs. As they flit here and there through the bushes and 

 grasses, they let off a sound like a miniature rattle. 



The mornings and evenings, here as elsewhere in the 

 tropics, are the periods of greatest activity among birds and 

 other creatures. In the afternoon, before the Hoatzins 

 began to gather, great tarpon would play in the river, the 

 shower of drops scattered by their leaps sparkling like silver 

 in the slanting rays of the sun. The few in the lagoon are 

 of small size, but tarpon in the Abary reach a weight of 

 185 pounds. A swirling in the shallows near the landing shows 

 where an anaconda (Eunectcs nwrhius) is stirring after his 

 day's rest. His mate, ten feet long, has just been shot after 

 having helped herself to the bungalow chickens one each 

 night for a week, and serpent number two (whose size our 

 Arrawak Indian squaw cook places at a fabulous thirty feet 

 or more!) must soon pay the same penalty unless he changes 

 his diet. 



Toward dusk all the Swallows of the world or so it 

 appears fly past in loose bands or singly, northward 

 toward the eta bush to roost, hundreds and thousands of 

 them Red-breasted, 123 Banded, 118 Barn, 121 Variegated 119 and 

 Tree 12 Swallows with scores of the Gray-breasted Mar- 

 tins. 122 Then the fishers of the savanna appear, look- 



