JUNGLE LIFE AT AREMU. 313 



lows, black above, variegated on shoulders and head with 

 white; thickly barred below and with a long crest of blazing 

 scarlet. They spent much of their time near the bungalow, 

 and when they drummed steadily their scarlet head-plumes 

 seemed a living flaming haze. 



Near the summit of the hill a tall Silverballi had been felled 

 and sawed by hand into boards. This had made a small 

 clearing like the one I visited yesterday. The trees were 

 filled with many species of birds attracted by the abundant 

 insect life, some of which I knew and made notes upon, • 

 while hiost were unknown to me. A group of tiny feathered 

 beings was busy catching midges near the top of one of the 

 highest trees, their sharp cheeps! coming faintly down to me. 

 Hopeless of ever observing them at closer range, I secured 

 one and found it to be a Buff-tailed Tyrantlet."" This waif 

 of the upper air was less than three and a half inches in length 

 with rather unusual coloring, the fore part of the body gray, 

 the back, wings, lower breast and tail rufous. Its claim to 

 the Flycatcher family was proved by the broad beak and 

 remarkably long bristles. One must have an aeroplane or, 

 more practically, an observing station in the tree-tops to study 

 these and a hundred other interesting birds at close range. 

 With a couple of hundred spikes as a ladder, I intend some 

 day to make one of these mighty trees give up many of its 

 secrets. 



As I w^as about to seat myself on the ground beyond the 

 clearing, a big Guan ■' or Maroodie, as we learned to call it 

 here, arose with a loud cackling cry and a rush of wings. 

 Simultaneously a dark-colored animal slipped into a hole 

 freshly excavated some twenty feet away. 



I lay prone, waiting for some other unexpected manifesta- 

 tion of life, but all was quiet. Then I prepared to watch for 

 the reappearance of the unknown burrowing creature, and 

 pressed my face close among the ferns where I could just see 



