66 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



remarkable a sound as any animal sound to which I have 

 listened, except only the batrachian-like wailing of the 

 tree hyrax in East Africa; and like the East African 

 mammal this South American insect has a voice, or 

 rather utters a sound which, so far as it resembles any 

 other animal sound, at the beginning remotely suggests 

 batrachian afifinities. The locomotive-whistle part of the 

 utterance, however, resembles nothing so much as a small 

 steam siren ; when first heard it seems impossible that it 

 can be produced by an insect. 



On December 17 Colonel Rondon and several mem- 

 bers of our party started on a shallow river steamer for 

 the ranch .of Senhor de Barros, "Las Palmeiras," on the 

 Rio Taquary. We went down the Paraguay for a few 

 miles, and then up the Taquary. It was a beautiful trip. 

 The shallow river — ^we were aground several times — 

 wound through a vast, marshy plain, with occasional 

 spots of higher land on which trees grew. There were 

 many water-birds. Darters swarmed. But the conspicu- 

 ous and attractive bird was the stately jabiru stork. 

 Flocks of these storks whitened the marshes and lined 

 the river banks. They were not shy, for such big birds; 

 before flying they had to run a few paces and then 

 launch themselves on the air. Once, at noon, a couple 

 soared round overhead in wide rings, rising higher and 

 higher. On another occasion, late in the day, a flock 

 passed by, gleaming white with black points in the long 

 afternoon lights, and with them were spoonbills, show- 

 ing rosy amid their snowy companions. Caymans, al- 

 ways called jacares, swarmed; and we killed scores of 

 the noxious creatures. They were singularly indifferent 



