358 CONTENT. 



NOCTURNAL FOREST SOUNDS. 



Various and strange are the sounds which strike 

 the ear of one benighted in the forests of Jamaica. 

 Some of these are the voices of night-birds, the rapid 

 articulations of the Piramidig, the monotonous call 

 or startling scream of the White Owl, the shrill wail 

 of the Dusky Owl, the hoot of the Potoo, or the 

 loud and reiterated cries of the Clucking-hen ; and 

 some are insect sounds. But, besides these, there 

 are some which are certainly produced by Reptiles, 

 though it is difficult to identify them. Nearly every 

 night, at certain seasons, there ascends from the 

 woods around Content a continual snoring of various 

 tones, the voices of numberless Tree-frogs, or, as 

 they are here called, Toads. They are said to reside 

 in the large ventricose leaves of the greater Wild- 

 pines, especially that fine one, Tillandsia llngulata, 

 which, about the end of July, sends up a magnificent 

 flower, somewhat like a huge carnation, with broad 

 outer petals of a rich crimson hue and polished sur- 

 face, and a cluster of smaller interior ones of pale 

 yellow. In the coolness and moisture of these na- 

 tural reservoirs, always half full of water collected 

 from rains and dews, the Tree-frogs delight to lie, 

 finding in them circumstances eminently congenial 

 for the maintenance of cutaneous humidity, so essen- 

 tial in these reptiles to respiration. They are very 

 rarely seen, and, but for their vocal powers by night, 

 we should scarcely be aware of their existence ; the 

 number and universality of these sounds, however, 

 in the mountain-woods, during the hours of darkness, 



