130 J. Delacour—Notes of a Bird-lover in Venezuela


which are eternally quarrelling and fighting and attempting to put to

flight any bird of their own kind that comes into view.


Along the streams, in the low trees, marvels of bird-life may be seen ;

here a Jacamar, with long pointed beak, back and wings of shining

golden green and belly red, waits, immovable upon a twig, for insects.

Peculiar cries, like a sharp, clucking “ ton-ton-ton-ton,” make me raise

my head. They proceed from Trogons, green like the Jacamars, but

with breast and belly beautifully tinted with pink.


Farther away are various Cuckoos, grey or rufous birds, the size of

a Blackbird or Magpie. Beautiful banded, red-crowned Woodpeckers

tap the trees, to which also cling in similar fashion the curious brown

Dendrocolaptes , with their long, curved beaks.


A large solitary tree is alive with yellow-backed, chattering

Cassiques and with troops of Sugarbirds, of the genus Dacnis and of

Calliste Tanagers. Delightful hours may be spent in the contemplation

of all these feathered jewels, which show no shyness so long as one keeps

still. Seated upon a stone, with the clear stream bubbling round me,

I look through my field glass and see Humming-birds, Phcetornis or

Agytria, flying fearlessly a few inches from my face and perching to

preen their plumage within reach of my hand. Then piercing cries

are heard, and a flock of Parrakeets, brown-throated Conures, the

Guiana parrotlets, pass in rapid flight, giving the impression of

leaves driven hither and thither by a tempest.


High up at an altitude of about 1,500 metres are coffee and other

plantations touching the forest, the “ Montagne,” as it is called by the

half-caste Spanish-Indian Peons. Thither I sometimes climb to meet

with different species of birds, although Tanagers, Troupials, Trogons,

and other frequenters of the valley are still in evidence. The lovely

green Jays, Xanthura coendeocephala, blue-headed and yellow-bellied,

come down in troops from the summit of the high trees to settle

on the coffee-plants and mob our dogs with their cries. Large Pigeons,

Geotrygon, Leptoptila , and Colwnba, are abundant, whereas lower down

only little ground Doves are to be found.


The path winds between low plantations of cassava, beans, and

bananas, with here and there leafless trees. What is this flock of

Parrakeets that wheel and approach us ? They settle on a dead tree



