2iS Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



found the birds for the most part in worn plumage, for 

 the breeding season, the southern spring and northern 

 fall, was over. But some birds were still breeding. In 

 the tropics the breeding season is more irregular than in 

 the north. Some birds breed at very different times 

 from that chosen by the majority of their fellows; some 

 can hardly be said to have any regular season; Cherrie 

 had found one species of honey-creeper breeding in every 

 month of the year. Just before sunset and just after sun- 

 rise big, noisy, blue-and-yellow macaws flew over this 

 camp. They were plentiful enough to form a loose flock, 

 but each pair kept to itself, the two individuals always 

 close together and always separated from the rest. Al- 

 though not an abundant, it was an interesting, fauna 

 which the two naturalists found in this upland country, 

 where hitherto no collections of birds and mammals had 

 been made. Miller trapped several species of opossums, 

 mice, and rats which were new to him. Cherrie got many 

 birds which he did not recognize. At this camp, among 

 totally strange forms, he found an old and familiar ac- 

 quaintance. Before breakfast he brought in several birds ; 

 a dark colored flycatcher, with white forehead and rump 

 and two very long tail-feathers; a black and slate-blue 

 tanager; a black ant-thrush with a concealed white spot 

 on its back, at the base of the neck, and its dull-colored 

 mate; and other birds which he believed to be new to 

 science, but whose relationships with any of our birds are 

 so remote that it is hard to describe them save in tech- 

 nical language. Finally, among these unfamiliar forms 

 was a veery, and the sight of the rufous-olive back and 



