46 



CLASS AVES. 



solitary forests which cover almost the entire soil of Guiana, 

 is at first struck with the gloomy silence which prevails in 

 the depths of these sombre retreats, which are nevertheless 

 peopled by a crowd of animals of every class, and every 

 genus. The more he penetrates into their interior, the more 

 general this silence becomes ; animated nature appears mute, 

 or, if the monotonous uniformity should be interrupted by 

 any sound echoing from afar, the impression produced on 

 the senses and the mind is disagreeable and painful. Some- 

 times the ear is struck by the horrible bowlings of the 

 alouatta ; sometimes by the alarum of the chiming thrush ; 

 sometimes by the sudden stroke given with the tail by the 

 great adder ; and sometimes by the startling and reiterated 

 crash of many falling trees, which, tumbling one over the 

 other, break in rapid succession, causing an instantaneous 

 clearance in the midst of the most magnificent plantations 

 of nature. One sound, however, more singular than the 

 others, will occasionally arrest the attention of the wanderer 

 through these mighty woods. Removed to the distance of 

 many leagues from every human habitation, his ear will be 

 suddenly saluted by a whistle like that of a bandit calling to 

 his brothers of spoil. This whistle will be repeated, and the 

 traveller will believe that he is approaching one of those wild- 

 settlements, which the desire of liberty or the tyranny of the 

 colonist has forced the fugitive negro to form in the depth 

 of almost impenetrable forests, or in the distant solitude of 

 nearly inaccessible mountains. Advancing towards the point 

 from which the sounds appear to issue, he will find them to 

 recede ; but should he approach unperceived ^vithin sufficient 

 distance he will discover, to his astonishment, that this 

 whistling is not produced by a man, but by a bird, though 

 nothing can be more perfect than the resemblance. Neither 

 will he be long in perceiving that the same bird has a 

 most melodious song, and that the whistler is also a most 

 agreeable musician. Its song is less varied and less brilliant 



