44 



OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



almost defied the eft'orts of the eye to disentangle them from 

 tlie lichens and moss amid which they clung. When one of 

 these did move it was with such celerity that the eye uncon- 

 sciously swept onward, impelled by momentum, and over- 

 shot the spot where it stopj^ed. Then another careful search 



was necessary to rediscover 

 the reptile. 



This same glade was the 

 favorite haunt of two kinds of 

 small Manakins, the Gold- 

 headed ^"« and the White- 

 breasted."' Tlie former was 

 a mite of a bird, barely four 

 inches in length, jet-black as 

 to body and wings, but with 

 a cap of gold pulled down 

 over his head and ears. If 

 his eyes were black and beady 

 like those of his near relatives, 

 the harmony of his head-dress 

 would be disturbed, so Dame 

 Nature has sifted the gold 

 over his eyes as well, and the 

 yellow irides are almost invis- 

 ible among the feathers. Such 

 coloring renders him part of 

 his beloved gorge. If he sits 

 in the shade his body vanishes 

 and his head is naught but a 

 spot of sunshine; if his perch is in sunlight, the tiny, head- 

 less body conveys no hint of a living bird. 



His cousin, the White-breasted, is black and white and the 

 four outer feathers of the wing are very narrow and cur\'ed. 

 These are the strings upon which he plays an a;olian song 



Fig. 22. 



Lizard Alert on Trunk 

 OF Tree. 



