ITINERARY. XXXI X 



great flights of liundreils — they have been much tlecieaseil in recent 

 years, — and equally so on the sandy flats west of the mouth of the 

 Korentyn river, where also the turnstone, the sanderling, and the 

 semi-palmated sandpiper or '• nit "' {Ereuiietes), niay at times be just as 

 commonly seen. Yet these latter forms and the numerous others of 

 the migrants, such as the greater and lesser yellow-shanks, the stilts 

 and other plovers and sandpipei's, which are so commonly found on the 

 coast in their down\\ard migration from the north, have not been 

 obtained on the Eoraima savannahs, though it would seem to be a 

 most likely place foi- them, especially on their return journey when 

 they do not appear to take the coast route. A special case of this kind 

 is that of the common spotted s;indpiper [Actitis), which at times is 

 one of the most widely distrilnited to be seen along the banks of nearly 

 every sti-eam : it surprises one by its absence froin the Roraima district. 

 So, too, in the case of the lai-ge golden-eyed thick-knee {(A'dicnemus), 

 which would appear to be a t3'pical high savannah and forest bird, 

 ranging from the Kuyuni and Mazaruni rivers to the Uppei- Ireng and 

 the Rupununi and Essequibo, but apparently not on the coast. 



It is remarkable in most of the great groups that man}"^ of the 

 commonest coast forms aie those which are frequently found at 

 Roraima, Avhile others less common on the coast and moie abundant 

 in the interior, or those wholly confined to parts of the liigh lands, 

 often do not occur in the range. Thus of the parrots, one of the 

 Roraima species is the .screecher or orange-cheeked amazon {Amazona 

 ((mazonica), which is certainly the commonest of the group in the 

 colony, and especially on the coast vi-here it will be met with by the 

 hundre<ls and thousands at times when fruits such as the guava are in 

 season, as in the great gro\es on the Koi-entyn coast, where we were 

 able to shoot them at any time of the day when they were needed for 

 curry or .soup. Here, too, great flocks of the yellow-headed amazon 

 [A . ochrocejyhala) have been found, a species that is usually so un- 

 common on the coast that it has often been regarded as confined to 

 the interior, where it is the chief tame bird in the Indian settlements. 

 It goes usually by the common name "Amazon " — though " screecher " 

 is also applied to all these species — and is the best talker of the locjil 

 ptirrots, if it has been brought up from the nest, when it will pick up 

 every variety of sound that it hears. Tliough ranging over the high 

 hinds in general,- it is not recorded from Roraima, neither are other 

 species with a corresponding range, nor others wholly confined to the 

 interio^. 



The Roraima macaws, the larger " CEtji ])arrot" {Ara manilafa) and 

 the smaller species (^A. halnti), are two of the very common coast liirds. 

 being met with at times by the hundreds and thou.sands, especially in 

 the groves of the CKta palm.s (Mauriiia Jleo'nosa), or flying to and from 

 their feeding grounds across the creeks and swamped savannahs, as in 

 the Abary district, in great flocks for (piite long periods continuously. 

 'I'he three large and beautiful macaws belong particularly to the higli 

 savannahs and mountains. 'J'he .scarlet and blue (A . macao) is especiidly 

 characteiistic of tlie interior. I'he red and yellow {A. c/tlorfi/iirni) 

 runges also close to the coast, and J liave met with them .-it tinjes in 

 great flocks of seveial score about the Potaro river. The blue and 



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