xiv itiner'art. 



tanagers, cotingas, shrikes, tree-creepers, icterids, goatsuckers, hum- 

 ming-birds, etc., could have been obtained very easily. The notes of 

 the bell-birds were frequent, and at times the loud long-drawn " qua- 

 a-ah " of the calf-bird {Oymnocephalus) or the "Ka-ka-kah" of the 

 bultata [Ihycter) came almost as a surprise. Not less striking was the 

 loud " Ha-ha-ha," down the octave, of the large goatsucker {Kyciihius) 

 at night, or the equally vociferous "han-na-qua" of Ortalis in the 

 morning, though to some this cry is more like the inquiry " What-o- 

 clock," which would be pertinent. The most common of all, however, 

 was the shrill and piercing " pe-pe-pe-yo " of the greenheart-birds 

 {Lafhria), so characteristic of the Guiana forests. Game birds were also 

 numerous, for the huntsmen always brought out some one or other kind, 

 and sometimes several. While camp was being made, and even at break- 

 fast-time, huntsmen were usuall}^ sent out to see what could be got. 



Keptiles were not much in evidence, except the common large green 

 Iguana — the flesh and eggs of which are so greatly prized by many-^ 

 and some little whip -snakes ; but these mostly have to be looked for, as 

 is the case also with the Batrachia, though from their varied cries at 

 night the frogs must be very numerous. The large tree-frog with the 

 loud " honk-honk " notes, and the paddler frog were the most notice- 

 able, the former being at times quite a nuisance overhead in the camp. 

 So much are the sounds of the paddlers like the stroke and rattle of 

 the paddles on a boat, that it is difficult at times when they are distant 

 not to ascribe them to that cause. The perai (Serrasalmo) and some 

 siluroids were the commonest fishes. 



Insects were, of course, the most dominant of the Invertebrates, 

 spiders also being numerous ; and it is noteworthy that the largest 

 specimens of the black scorpion and of Mygcde have been taken in the 

 Upper Mazaruni district. Lime being practically absent from the 

 country, shells are not well represented. A few apple-snails {Ampul- 

 laria), on which some of the hawks and herons so delight to feed, and 

 Melanias especially, are generally to be seen about the rapids on the 

 shallow flats or among the rocks. The large blue morpho butterflies, 

 and swallow-tails and yellow Pierids, of several species, were often to 

 be seen, as well on the river as on the banks, and many of them also 

 in the forests, with numbers of other kinds, of which the Heliconiids 

 and the Satyrids were perhaps the most plentiful and interesting. In 

 fact, all the great groups of insects were well represented ; and the 

 fireflies and cicadas came under frequent notice — the latter Iseing very 

 noisy at our camps with their loud screeching whistle, which was also 

 very frequently to be heard during the day. So loud are these notes 

 at times, and so much like a distant railway-whistle, that it seems 

 almost incredible for them to be produced by these comparatively 

 small creatures. 



Near the head of the falls we had quite a successful hunt — too much 

 so, as it proved. At one of the breakfast-camps the men saw fresh 

 tracks of a large herd of bush-hog, the kairuni or larger peccary as it 

 turned out, and they came upon them after some time and apparently 

 pursued them for miles as the herd broke up into smaller sets in different 

 directions. It was not till late in the afternoon that the hunters began 

 straggling in with their loads, and to judge from their accounts they 



