ORDER PASSERES. 543 



can be attracted by whistling like them, but it must be well 

 done, and exactly like their voice, as, otherwise, they will fly 

 off immediately. In the fruit season they may be caught with 

 various kinds of snares. 



All that we have said of the habits of this oriole is applicable 

 to the other species of the genus as far as they are known. 

 We forbear, therefore, to dilate further on them, and proceed 

 to the Ant-eaters. 



Sonnini was the first naturalist who made us acquainted 

 with these birds. He has observed them in the interior of 

 the countries of Guiana, in the lofty and sombre forests 

 which cover the soil in this portion of Southern America. 

 They hve there, generally speaking, in small flocks, and sub- 

 sist chiefly on ants, the quantity of which is prodigious in those 

 hot and humid climates. There, where man has been hitherto 

 unable to exercise his destructive imprudence, we may observe 

 the admirable care with which nature has disposed all her 

 works, the harmony of their distribution, the equilibrium which 

 maintains them in a perfect order, the incontestable imprint of 

 a supreme and directing intelligence. In no part of the globe 

 does there exist a greater number of ants than in South 

 America ; and in no part, also, do there exist more species of 

 animals destined to subsist on these insects. For some of 

 these species they are not only a preferable article of food, but 

 absolutely a necessary and exclusive aliment. The quadrupeds 

 called ant-eaters have no other, neither have the birds on which 

 we treat at present. 



Such a mode of subsistence does not require the frequent 

 exercise of flying. To find it, it is sufficient to flit from one 

 ant-hole to another. Accordingly we find these birds almost 

 continually on the ground. They run there with hghtness, 

 and if they ever quit it, it is only to jump upon the bushes or 

 bi'anches of some low tree, where they pass the night. They 

 build their nests there, tissued with dry plants rudely interlaced, 

 and of a hemispherical form. They lay three or four eggs, 



