1720 Animals of Peru. 



evening he burrows deep holes in the earth, and searches for the larvae of insects, or he 

 ventures out of the forest, and visits the yucca fields, where he digs up the well-fla- 

 voured roots. The ant-eater rakes up with his long curved claws the crowded resorts 

 of ants, stretches out his loug, spiral, and adhesive tongue, into the midst of the 

 moving swarm, and draws it back covered with a multitude of crawling insects. 



" In the soft marshy ground, or in the damp shady recesses of the forests, the heavy 

 tapir reposes during the heat of the day ; but when the fresh coolness of evening sets 

 in, he roves through the forest, tears the tender twigs from the bushes, or seeks food 

 in the grass-covered pajonales. Sometimes a multitude of tapirs sally from the forests 

 into the cultivated fields, to the great alarm of the Indians. A broad furrow marks 

 the tract along which they have passed, and the plants they encounter in their pro- 

 gress are trampled down or devoured. Such a visit is particularly fatal to the 

 coca fields ; for the tapirs are extremely fond of the leaves of the low-growing 

 coca-plant, and they often, in one night, destroy a coca-field which has cost a poor 

 Indian the hard labour of a year. 



" Flocks of the umbilical hog, or peccary, traverse the level montanas. If one of 

 them is attacked by the hunter, the whole troop falls furiously on him, and it is only 

 promptly climbing up a tree that he can escape ; then, whizzing and grunting, they 

 surround the stem, and with their snouts turn up the earth round the root, as if intend- 

 ing to pull down the tree and so get at their enemy. The stag lurks in the thicket to 

 withdraw from the eyes of the greedy ounce ; but towards evening he leaves his hid- 

 ing-place, and sometimes strays beyond the boundary of the forest ; he ventures into 

 the maize-fields of the plantations, where he tarries until night is far advanced. 



" The same diversity of nature and habits is seen in the numerous hosts of birds 

 that inhabit the leafy canopies of the forest. On the loftiest trees, or on detached 

 rocks, eagles, kites, and falcons, build their eyries. The most formidable of these 

 birds of prey, both for boldness and strength, the Morphnus harpyia, Cab., darts down 

 on the largest animals and fears not to encounter the fiercest inhabitant of the forest. 

 The owls (Noctua, Scops, Strix), and the goat-milkers (Caprimulgus, Hydropsalis, 

 Chordiles), fly with softly flapping wings to their hunting quarters, to surprise their vic- 

 tims whilst asleep. In the hilly parts of the montanas the black ox-bird (Cephalopterus 

 ornatus, Geoff.), the toropishu of the Indians, fills the forest with his distant bellow, 

 similar to the roaring of a bull. The tunqui* inhabits the same district. This bird 

 is of the size of a cock ; the body is bright red, but the wings are black. The head is 

 surmounted by a tuft of red feathers, beneath which the orange bill projects with a 

 slight curve. It lives sociably with other birds, in thickets, or among cinchona-trees, 

 the fruit of which is part of its food. Its harsh cry resembles the grunt of the hog, 

 and forms a striking contrast to its beautiful plumage. Numberless fly-catchers and 

 shrikes (Muscicapidce and Laniadce) hover on tree and bush, watching for the passing 



* Rupicola peruviana, Ch. Dum. The colour of the female is reddish-brown, and 

 she is named by the natives tunqui mulato ; the male is called tunqui Colorado. In 

 some parts of the montanas the Cephalopterus ornatus is called yana tunqui. Thus 

 even the Indians have observed the relationship of these birds, which, classed accord- 

 ing to our system of Natural History, actually belong to one family, the Ampelida?. 

 Their affinity is indicated very correctly by the Indian name. 



