178 J. Ddacour — Notes of a Bird-lover in Tropical America


Chinese, Negroes, Europeans, and all the possible combinations of these

races, each one preserving for the most part its particular costume,

modes of living, fetes, etc.


At Surinam one finds the same kinds of birds as at Cayenne. At the

house of an aviculturist, who collects birds and animals to send to the

Zoological Gardens of Rotterdam, I saw a Trumpeter, a young Spectacled

Owl, a Curassow, and various mammals. In cages in the windows were

Grosbeaks, Seed-eaters (Sporophiloe), and some violet Tanagers.


Thanks to the kindness of the Director of Agriculture and of his

assistant forester, who was willing to serve as my guide, I made some

interesting excursions in the country. The virgin forest has been much

more cut down than in French Guiana ; by which means numerous

pastures have been acquired which surround the farms, and where

Anis and Grackles abound.


These farms are worked by “ Boers ”, Dutch peasants, whose clear

complexions and fair hair are very conspicuous in the tropics, where

nearly all the other people are more or less coloured.


The jungle of Surinam is much the same as that of the Maroni, and

the fauna is also similar.


But the species of Humming-birds are rather different. Thalurania,

which was so common there, was absent; this species being replaced by

Phcetornis and Agyrtria, neither of which I had seen before. I imagine

that the great watercourses assist to a certain degree to disperse and

separate certain species. In the fields of the plantations gained from

the forest, certain species are particularly abundant, notably the

Grosbeaks (Oryzohorus and Sporophila). Parrots (Conurus and Psittacula),

and the curious black Puff-birds, which rather resemble a‘Swift

(Chelidoptera brasiliensis). These birds perch on dead branches at a

great height, from which they fly from time to time to immediately

return to the tree. One also sees there the Paradise Jacamar (Urogalba

Paradisea), so pretty with its long bill and tail, and its plumage of blue

and rich green marked with white on the throat.


A very charming bird of prey abounds in this region, the

“ Nauclere ” ( Elano'ides furcatus), with the form of a Swallow, sharply

pointed wings and forked tail, pure bluish-grey in colour, with an ex¬

ceedingly light and graceful flight.



