A GOLD MINE IN THE WILDERNESS. 1 89 



They possess the indescribable vibrating chord-like quality 

 of the Veer)''s song which defies all description. Musically 

 they may be written thus: 



'-^r^-n^^' ^^^—^^^^ W 





;F= 



Almost instantly follow the three notes of the call or song. 

 They are of tremendous strength and exceedingly liquid and 

 piercing. The nearest imitation is to whistle the syllables 

 li'hee! wlice! 0! as loudly as possible. We ne\'er tire of 

 listening. The bird overhead calls so loudly that our ears 

 tingle; another answers, then a third anrl a fourth, far away 

 in the dim recesses of the forest. 



Many miles inland near the wonflerful plateau of Roraima 

 lives another species of Goldbird, similar to ours except for 

 a bright rosy ])ink collar around the neck. We saw nothing 

 of this beautiful Cotinga, Init one of the Goldbirds which we 

 secured had a distinct but irregular collar of rufous, hinting 

 of a not distant relationship. 



A short distance along the corduroy road we came upon a 

 half dozen naked Indians cutting away underljush, prepara- 

 tory to making a new road bed. It was a delight to watch 

 their sinewy bodies bend and strain, mo\'ing here and there 

 through the thorns and sharp twigs with never a scratch. 

 They came across many curious creatures among the rotting 

 trunks and leaf mould, and when they learned we were inter- 

 ested, they would tie their captives with liana threads, or 

 imprison them in clever leaf boxes, and save them for us. 

 The most weird looking of these were gigantic whip scorpions 

 or pedipalp spiders {Adnielus pumilio) like brobdignagian 

 daddy-long-legs, which crawled i)ainfully about on their 

 slender legs and never showed an inclination to bite. They 



