ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1309 



THE CINNAMON TREE OF THE BIRDS 

 In the Utinga Jungle. 



hundred yards away in any direction this con- 

 vergence could frequently be observed^ small 

 birds fljnng over the summit of the jungle, re- 

 vealing a general flight direction treeward. An- 

 other method of arrival was wholly casual, loose 

 flocks drifting slowly from the neighboring jun- 

 gle, sifting into the tree and feeding for a time 

 before passing on. When these left it was ra- 

 ther hastily and in answer to the chirps and 

 calls of the members of their flock who had not 

 been beguiled by the berry attraction of this 

 tree and hence had forged steadily ahead. 

 These more or less well-defined flocks are very 

 typical of all tropical jungles. Little assem- 

 blages of flycatchers, callistes, tanagers, ant- 

 birds, manakins, woodhewers and woodj^eckers 

 are drawn together by some intangible but ver})" 

 social instinct, and unite day after day in these 

 fragile fraternities which drift along, gleaning 

 from leaves, flowers, branches, trunk or ground, 

 each bird according to its structure and way of 

 life. They are so held together by an invisible 

 gregarious instinct that day after day the same 

 heterogeneous flock may be observed, identifiable 

 by peculiarities of one or several of its members. 

 The only recognizable bond is vocal — constant 

 low calling, half unconscious, absent-minded lit- 

 tle signals which keep the members in touch 

 with one another, spurring on the laggards, re- 

 tarding the over-swift. 



While I watched, there came to my tree one 

 species of pigeon, two hawks and two parrots, 

 four hummingbirds and an equal number of 

 toucans and woodpeckers. Fifty-nine were pas- 

 serine birds of which there were eight each of 

 the families of flycatchers, manakins and co- 

 tingas and eleven tanagers. 



Besides the seventy-six which I positively 

 identified by shooting or observation, I saw at 

 least thirty or forty more species which eluded 

 liie, and of which a hasty glance told no more 

 than that the}' were of new, and to me, unknown 

 species. I have recorded the details of this list 

 elsewhere.* 



At first I found it almost imjjossible to iden- 

 tify birds unless they were on the lower branch- 

 es or silhouetted against patches of foliage. 

 When in the upjjer branches and seen against 

 the sky, birds with under parts of black, blue 

 or green all looked black. White under plumage 

 ajDpeared grey and buff seemed orange. Even 

 when the tree was filled with the most brilliant 

 callistes, not a bird was visible as long as they 

 were motionless, but when the smallest, most 

 drab of flycatchers moved head or tail I could 

 at once detect it, and distinguish it from the 



*Zoologica, Vol. II, No. 3. 



