362 MR. E. SPBIJCE ON INSECT-MI&RATIOKS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



dearth of provisions exceeds what I have experienced elsewhere in 

 South America, 



The Ibises doubtless undertake these voyages from the testi- 

 mony and under the guidance of the elders, far more than from 

 any inherited knowledge, or instinct ; whereas the flights of 

 butterflies one would think must be directed by instinct alone, 

 without any aid from experience. 



Many mammals wander far in search of food ; and some that go 

 in bands, such as wild Pigs and some Monkeys, have known 

 feeding-places at certain times of the year, when some particular 

 kind of fruit is in season there ; so that the experienced Indian 

 hunter often knows in what direction to bend his steps to fall in 

 with a certain class of game. It is well known how fond all ani- 

 mals are of the Alligator-pear, which is the fruit of a large Laurel 

 (Persea gratissima) . I have seen cats prefer it to every other 

 kind of food ; and the wild cat-like animals are said to be all pas- 

 sionately fond of it. I have been told by an Indian that in the 

 forests between the Uaupes and the Japura, he once came on four 

 Jaguars under a wild Alligator-pear-tree, gnawing the fallen 

 fruits and snarling over them as so many cats might do. I have 

 gathered flowers of at least four species of Fersed, but was never 

 fortunate enough to find one of them with ripe fruit ; so that I 

 have missed seeing the concourse of animals of many kinds which 

 I am assured assemble in and under those trees, attracted 

 by the fruit. "WhUe speaking of fruit- eating caruivora, it is 

 worth mentioning that Dogs in South America often take natu- 

 rally to eating fruit. I had in Peru a fine Spanish spaniel who, so 

 long as he could get raw ripe plantains, asked for no better food. 

 He would hold them between his paws, and pull oif the skin in - 

 strips with his teeth so delicately as not to foul them in the least ; 

 so that I have occasionally eaten a plantain of his peeling. 



I fancy Monkeys sometimes go on day after day along the banks 

 of a river, their rate of progress depending on the quantity of 

 food they find to eat and waste. I have watched" them at this 

 in a strip of Mauritia palms, which stretched for a distance of 

 some days' journey along the banks of a river. The Chorro 

 (Barrigudo of Brazil), a monkey of the hot plain, sometimes 

 ascends the slopes of the Andes to five or six thousand feet, appa- 

 rently to eat the friiit of the Tocte or Quitenian walnut (an un- 

 described species of Juglans), which is frequent at that elevation ; 

 but it is said never to pass a night there. 



An Indian will tell you at what time of year certain fruit-eating 



