94 Through the Brazilian Wilderness 



ranch as that we visited. He would have to do some 

 collecting, but only a little. Exhaustive observation in 

 the field is what is now most needed. Most of this won- 

 derful and harmless bird life should be protected by law ; 

 and the mammals should receive reasonable protection. 

 The books now most needed are those dealing with the 

 life-histories of wild creatures. 



Near the ranch-house, walking familiarly among the 

 cattle, we saw the big, deep-billed Ani blackbirds. They 

 feed on the insects disturbed by the hoofs of the cattle, 

 and often cling to them and pick ofi the ticks. It was 

 the end of the nesting season, and we did not find their 

 curious communal nests, in which half a dozen females 

 lay their eggs indiscriminately. The common ibises in 

 the ponds near by — which usually went in pairs, instead 

 of in flocks like the wood ibis — were very tame, and so 

 were the night herons and all the small herons. In fly- 

 ing, the ibises and storks stretch the neck straight in 

 front of them. The jabiru — a splendid bird on the wing 

 — also stretches his neck out in front, but there appears 

 to be a slight downward curve at the base of the neck, 

 which may be due merely to the craw. The big slender 

 herons, on the contrary, bend the long neck back in a 

 beautiful curve, so that the head is nearly between the 

 shoulders. One day I saw what I at first thought was 

 a small yellow-bellied kingfisher hovering over a pond, 

 and finally plunging down to the surface of the water 

 after a school of tiny young fish ; but it proved to be a 

 bien-te-vi king-bird. Curved-bill wood-hewers, birds the 

 size and somewhat the coloration of veeries, but with 

 long, slender sickle-bills, were common in the little gar- 



