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needle-like beaks in working the twigs, and the agility 

 they display in running in and out of their sack-like 

 home, are perfectly wonderful. The male bird is of a 

 shiny black, with a spot of rich orange on the back, 

 the female beino- scarcely so attractive. They seem 

 by their gentle habits to be birds which could be 

 easily tamed, and if it were possible to keep them in 

 confinement they would be universal favourites. 



I left this part of the country by way of the village 

 of Simiti. As the canoes glided dreamily across the 

 beautiful lake, the sun, just rising over the tops of the 

 distant mountains, threw a soft rosy tint on the waters, 

 and this, with the picturesque islands covered with 

 dark-green waving palms, made up a scene which 

 is as indelible in the memory of the traveller as it 

 is indescribable to the reader. 



After leaving Lake Simiti the canoes followed 

 a channel into the river Magdalena, where they 

 occupied nearly a whole day in going round the 

 point of an immense island in order to arrive at the 

 station, Bodega Central, where passengers must wait 

 to meet the steamboats going down the river to 

 the coast. I had four whole days to spend here 

 before one would come down. A pair of jaguars 

 had been committing nightly depredations on the 

 cattle of the settlement, taking away half-grown 

 cows, calves, pigs, and even coming into the streets 



