130 Through the Brazihan Wilderness 



able through the ages to exist and thrive surrounded by 

 jaguars and pumas. Speaking generally, the animals 

 that seek to escape observation trust primarily to smell 

 to discover their foes or their prey, and see whatever 

 moves and do not see whatever is motionless. 



By the morning of January 5 we had left the marsh 

 region. There were low hills here and there, and the 

 land was covered with dense forest. From time to time 

 we passed little clearings with palm-thatched houses. 

 We were approaching Caceres, where the easiest part of 

 our trip would end. We had lived in much comfort on 

 the little steamer. The food was plentiful and the cook- 

 ing good. At night we slept on deck in cots or ham- 

 mocks. The mosquitoes were rarely troublesome, al- 

 though in the daytime we were sometimes bothered by 

 numbers of biting horse-flies. The bird life was won- 

 derful. One of the characteristic sights we were always 

 seeing was that of a number of heads and necks of cor- 

 morants and snake-birds, without any bodies, projecting 

 above water, and disappearing as the steamer approached. 

 Skimmers and thick-billed tern were plentiful here right 

 in the heart of the continent. In addition to the spurred 

 lapwing, characteristic and most interesting resident of 

 most of South America, we found tiny red-legged plover 

 which also breed and are at home in the tropics. The 

 contrasts in habits between closely allied species are 

 wonderful. Among the plovers and bay snipe there are 

 species that live all the year round in almost the same 

 places, in tropical and subtropical lands; and other re- 

 lated forms which wander over the whole earth, and 

 spend nearly all their time, now in the arctic and cold 



