300 WANDERINGS IN 



FOURTH particular flatness of that part of the leg, the bird 



JOURNEY. * 



is enabled to sleep in safety upon the branch of 

 a tree. 



At the close of day, the great Tinamou gives 

 a loud, monotonous, plaintive whistle, and then 

 immediately springs into the tree. By the light 

 of the full moon, the vigilant and cautious natu- 

 ralist may see him sitting in the position already 

 described. 

 The small The small Tinamou has nothing that can be 



Tinamou. 



called a tail. It never lays more than one egg, 

 which is of a chocolate colour. It makes no nest, 

 but merely scratches a little hollow in the sand, 

 generally at the foot of a tree. 



Here we have an instance of a bird, the size of 

 a partridge, and of the same tribe, laying only one 

 egg, while the rest of the family, from the peahen 

 to the quail, are known to lay a considerable 

 number. The foot of this bird is very small in 

 proportion, but the back part of the leg bears no 

 resemblance to that of the larger tinamou ; hence 

 one might conclude that it sleeps upon the ground. 



Independent of the hollow trees, the vampires 

 have another hiding-place. They clear out 

 the inside of the large ants' nests, and then 

 take possession of the shell. I had gone about 

 half a day down the river, to a part of the forest 

 where the wallaba trees were in great plenty. 

 The seeds had ripened, and I was in hopes to 

 have got the large scarlet ara, which feeds on 



