On the Upper Berbice River. 327 



a chance. We were also fortunate in securing a splen- 

 did specimen of the harpy eagle (Thrasaetus harpyia) 

 which had been shot while resting on the top of a high 

 mora, on the hill above the cataraft. In the forest, 

 species of Trogon, Ara, Chrysotis^ Conurus, Caica, 

 Rhamphastos , Campephilus, Dryocopus, Chloronerpes, 

 Celeus, Dendrornis, etc., were fairly common, and their 

 cries often heard. 



The reptiles were represented only by lizards. True, 

 one night, one of the Indians had rushed into the benab, 

 exclaiming "caiman, caiman!"; but the obje6t seen 

 turned out to be but a dark rock which had been but 

 dimly perceived. In one of the small creeks, among the 

 hills, one of the gold labourers had shot a medium-sized 

 alligator (A. palpehrosus) which was kindly brought for 

 me, but was so damaged as to be unfit for skinning. 

 The species belonged to the old genus Caiman^ with 

 narrow elongate head, destitute of a frontal ridge, 

 and quite distin6l from the common " caiman" of the 

 colony which is but the largest species of the genus 

 alligator (A. nigerj. The reptile was extremely 

 emaciated, and had evidently found a difficulty in 

 making a living. It was placed in a conspicuous position 

 with the idea of attra6ling the large wattle-faced king 

 vultures (Gypagus papaj, but though one or two were 

 noticed circling high overhead none descended to the bait. 

 Batrachians and fish of a few forms were extremely 

 abundant. Myriads of minute common toads (Bufo 

 agua) hopped about among the stones and sand, and 

 various species of Hyla woke the echoes of the forest 

 at night. In the lake, at the foot of Itabru, perai 

 (Serrasalmo nigerj of large size were predominant, 



