266 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



Sting-rays moving at the bottom. The coloured man 

 never failed to hit them with his arrow. The weather 

 was delightful. There was scarcely a cloud to intercept 

 the sun's rays. 



I saw several scarlet aras, anihingas, and ducks, but 

 could not get a shot at them. The parrots crossed the 

 river in innumerable quantities, always flying in pairs. 

 Here, too, I saw the Sun-bird, called Tirana by the 

 Spaniards in the Oroonoque, and shot one of them. The 

 black and white Scarlet-headed Finch was very common 

 here. I could never see this bird in the Demerara, nor 

 hear of its being there. 



We at last came to a large sand-bank, probably two 

 miles in circumference. As we approached it we could 

 see two or three hundred Presh-water Turtle on the edge 

 of the bank. . Ere we could get near enough to let ily an 

 arrow at them, they had all sunk into the river and 

 appeared no more. 



We went on the sand-bank to look for their nests, as 

 this was the breeding season. The coloured man showed 

 us how to find them. Wherever a portion of the sand 

 seemed smoother than the rest, there was sure to be a 

 turtle's nest. On digging down with our hands, about nine 

 inches deep, we found from twenty to thirty white eggs ; 

 in less than an hour we got above two hundred. Those 

 which had a little black spot or two on the shell we ate 

 the same day, as it was a sign that they were not fresh, 

 and of course would not keep : those which had no speck 

 were put into dry sand, and were good some weeks after. 



At midnight, two of our people went to this sand-bank, 

 while the rest stayed to watch the cayman. The turtle had 

 advanced on to the sand to lay their eggs, and the men 

 got betwixt them and the water ; they brought off half a 

 dozen very fine and well-fed turtle. The egg-shell of the 



