358 A YEAR IN BRAZIL. 



their food. In captivity they may be induced to feed on fig 

 leaves, celery, and soft vegetables ; but they are very difficult to 

 keep alive, and sufifer long from hunger before they can be led to 

 eat the proffered leaves. 



In the daytime, the A'i may be easily caught ; in the forests 

 they may drop upon one, and it is necessary to kill them before 

 they relinquish their hold. 



The Visconde de Prados told M. Liais of a curious incident 

 which happened to him. Passing one day on horseback through 

 a forest where the taquaras (bamboos) hung over the path, his 

 travelling cloak, which was on his shoulders, was forcibly seized. 

 An Ai, suspended from the bamboos, had hooked itself on to his 

 garment, and he could not make it relinquish its hold. He 

 determined to let it go off when it wished. But the A'i remained 

 hooked on to the cloak during the two leagues (eight miles) M. 

 de Prados travelled to his home, and his men had all the trouble 

 in the world to make the obstinate animal leave hold. 



Birds {Aves). 



The genera and species of birds in Brazil are so numerous 

 that, though I had but very little opportunity of doing more than 

 notice them en passant, I am able, from notes I took, as to local 

 names and from personal observation, to give a list of some of 

 the more prominent species. I endeavoured to preserve a few 

 skins, but the majority of these were destroyed by the damp and 

 insects. 



I have determined the following names, either from specimens 

 in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, or by the 

 kindness of Mr. Sharpe, curator of that department, or from the 

 following books : " Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien," 

 von Maximilian Prinzen zu Wied, Weimar, 1825-1833 ; and 

 " Systematische Uebersicht der Thiere Brasiliens . . . Provinzen 

 von Rio de Janeiro und Minas Geraes," etc., von Dr. Hermann 

 Burmeister, Berlin, 1854-1856. 



The classification is from "Nomenclator Avium Neotropi- 

 calium," by P. L. Sclater and O. Salvin, London, 1873. 



Turdus rufiventris, Vieill., Turdida. Zorzal obscuro y roxo 



