A DAY'S PHENOMENA. 395 



forest with their murmurs, their songs, their utterances, their lively 

 sports and frolicsome gambols. 



I borrow from the entertaining pages of an English traveller the 

 following description of the diurnal cycle of phenomena which revolves 

 in the depths of a virgin forest.* 



In the early dawn the sky is invariably cloudless ; the heavy dew 

 or the previous night's rain, which lay on the moist foliage, becoming 

 quickly dissipated by the glowing sun, which, rising straight out of 

 the east, mounts rapidly towards the zenith. All nature is fresh, 

 new leaves and flower-buds expanding rapidly. Some mornings a single 

 tree will appear in flower amidst what was the preceding evening a 

 uniform green mass of forest a dome of blossom suddenly created as 

 if by magic. The birds are all active; from the wild fruit trees, not 

 far off, we hear the shrill yelping of the Tucano (Ramphctstos vitd- 

 linus). Small flocks of parrots flow over on most mornings at a 

 great height, appearing in distinct relief against the blue sky, always 

 two by two chattering to each other, the pairs being separated by 

 regular intervals. Their bright colours, however, are not discernible 

 at such a height. 



Towards two o'clock the heat rapidly increases, and every voice 

 of bird or mammal grows hushed ; only in the trees sounds at intervals 

 the harsh whirr of a cicada. The leaves, so moist and fresh in early 

 morning, now become lax and drooping ; the flowers shed their petals. 

 On most days in June or July a heavy shower will fall some time 

 in the afternoon, producing a most welcome coolness. The approach 

 of the rain clouds takes place after a uniform fashion very interesting 

 to observe. First, the cool sea-breeze, which commenced to blow 

 about ten o'clock, and which increases in force with the increasing 

 power of the sun, flags, and finally dies away. The heat and electric 

 tension of the atmosphere then grows almost insupportable. Languor 

 and uneasiness seize on every one; even the denizens of the forest 

 betraying it by their motions. White clouds rising in the east gather 

 into cumuli, with an increasing blackness along their lower portions. 

 * II. W. Bates, " The Naturalist on the Amazons," pp. 33, 35. 



