298 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



South American Tortoise {Tcstudo tabidala) of the largest 

 size, not far from two feet in length, and he was busy rooting 

 in the ground for some small nuts which had fallen in great 

 quantities from the tree overhead and settled among the 

 deljris of the leaf mould. The shell of the tortoise was high 

 and arched, dark brown in color with a bright yellow centre 

 in each shield. There were two deep abrasions on the shell, 

 apparently caused by the teeth of some carnivore. 



These tortoises were very common and wc had many deli- 

 cious soups and stews made of their meat. They were, 

 however, heavy and awkward to carry and we never bothered 

 to bring them home unless on the return journey and near 

 the clearing. In one individual we found eight eggs about to 

 be deposited. 



My wood road led up a gentle incline down which logs had 

 been skidded, and after a half mile it merged gradually into 

 the jungle. At the last sign of the axe I sat down on a fallen 

 trunk and f|uietly waited. Three Blue Honey Creepers ""■'' 

 — two males and one green female, — dashed here and there 

 in the branches close overhead. They uttered sharp cheeps, 

 until the males flew at each other and began fighting furi- 

 ously — ascending for fifty feet in a whirling spiral of hazy 

 blue and black, and then clinching and falling to earth, 

 where they clung together claw to claw, and jjecked viciouslv 

 and in silence, their beautiful plumage disheveled and broken. 

 The lady — heartless cause of all this terrible strife — cheeped 

 in low tones overhead and nonchalandy plucked invisible 

 dainties from the undersides of leaves. I took a step toward 

 the combatants and they separated and vanished, the lady, 

 be it noted, following swiftly in their wake. 



Close upon this melodrama came a fairy JNIanakin, black 

 with a conspicuous white chin. I ne\'er saw another and 

 cannot identify it, distinctly marked though it was. Through 

 the forest came the low belling of Green Cassiques; ^■''' then 



